Beautiful essay! I’m one of those who gets anxious with the first signs of fall (usually august here in New Hampshire!). Strangely, I’m less anxious in winter because then all those nice things come into play, like fireplaces and hot chocolate and fuzzy sweaters. But I feel the anxiety when the natural world starts preparing. Kind of like performance anxiety!
I definitely understand that because in autumn you can see the world receding and things dying and so there’s a real sadness to that season that goes beyond less light because it’s an active dying. By the time it gets really really cold the light is slowly coming back!!
I've always loved autumn, because I equated it with new beginnings--paradoxical, since Spring usually fills that bill. Around this time I find myself looking forward to snow, the great transformer, which can make a mole out of a quail in no time, if you don't look too closely!
I read Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters after some of you talked about it here. It felt like this opened the window into Japan for me more than anything before, even if from a different time. Especially how not saying everything affects the rules of play compared to what I grew up with.
Yes!!! Thank you so much for this comment for me that novel as well as his short story captain shigemoto totally changed my understanding. Exactly the way you said it opened up a new version of rules of play. All you said that so perfectly! And I totally agree and I definitely want to re-read that novel. I’m re-reading the Genji this year and movie deck. Maybe next year I’ll be read Makioka sisters.
It was also an interesting book to read up on afterwards! Discovering how the Japanese government censured and forbade it for the lifestyle not in line with what they wanted to promote during the war.
I can't express enough how happy I was reading this post. I love fall but it doesn't exist where I live. And experiencing it or going through it from start to finish has always been a dream of mine.
Oh you made my evening! Thank you so much for this. I don’t really think we have a fall properly in Southern California but for a few weeks in November the sycamore trees turn golden and the air gets a little bit crisp! It’s not like Back East or in Japan but I do love it!
What a gift! This is the perfect before-bed reading! And, yes, I've been keenly aware of autumn here. I always enjoy October; feel the transformation to dive into the deep of the un-sleep of winter. The happenings elude reasoned change and can be dramatically invisible to the naked eye. I like your friend who leaps through the O of October! And now I can look forward to my heart breaking with the Kyoto book. Thank you so much for this relaxing contemplation, Leanne!
Beautiful essay! I’m one of those who gets anxious with the first signs of fall (usually august here in New Hampshire!). Strangely, I’m less anxious in winter because then all those nice things come into play, like fireplaces and hot chocolate and fuzzy sweaters. But I feel the anxiety when the natural world starts preparing. Kind of like performance anxiety!
I definitely understand that because in autumn you can see the world receding and things dying and so there’s a real sadness to that season that goes beyond less light because it’s an active dying. By the time it gets really really cold the light is slowly coming back!!
I've always loved autumn, because I equated it with new beginnings--paradoxical, since Spring usually fills that bill. Around this time I find myself looking forward to snow, the great transformer, which can make a mole out of a quail in no time, if you don't look too closely!
Thank you, Brooks!!!!! And yes to snow! I miss it so much. It truly is the great transformer --that blanket of quiet.
This is a really lovely post.
Thank you for reading it!
I read Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters after some of you talked about it here. It felt like this opened the window into Japan for me more than anything before, even if from a different time. Especially how not saying everything affects the rules of play compared to what I grew up with.
Yes!!! Thank you so much for this comment for me that novel as well as his short story captain shigemoto totally changed my understanding. Exactly the way you said it opened up a new version of rules of play. All you said that so perfectly! And I totally agree and I definitely want to re-read that novel. I’m re-reading the Genji this year and movie deck. Maybe next year I’ll be read Makioka sisters.
It was also an interesting book to read up on afterwards! Discovering how the Japanese government censured and forbade it for the lifestyle not in line with what they wanted to promote during the war.
I can't express enough how happy I was reading this post. I love fall but it doesn't exist where I live. And experiencing it or going through it from start to finish has always been a dream of mine.
Oh you made my evening! Thank you so much for this. I don’t really think we have a fall properly in Southern California but for a few weeks in November the sycamore trees turn golden and the air gets a little bit crisp! It’s not like Back East or in Japan but I do love it!
What a gift! This is the perfect before-bed reading! And, yes, I've been keenly aware of autumn here. I always enjoy October; feel the transformation to dive into the deep of the un-sleep of winter. The happenings elude reasoned change and can be dramatically invisible to the naked eye. I like your friend who leaps through the O of October! And now I can look forward to my heart breaking with the Kyoto book. Thank you so much for this relaxing contemplation, Leanne!
Thank you, Sally!!!!!!!