The Missionary and the Libertine: Love and War in East and WestFor centuries Westerners have projected fan-tasies of a decadent, voluptuous East in contrast to the puritanism of their own cultures. A Japanese theatrical troupe performing in his native Holland in 1971 exposed the young Ian Buruma to these temptations, and soon he was off to Tokyo, a would-be libertine. The essays collected in The Missionary and the Libertine chronicle Buruma's sobering discovery that Asians often have equally distorted visions of the West. In these humorous and enlightening essays, Buruma describes the last days of Hong Kong, the showbiz politics of the Philippines, the chauvinism of the Seoul Olympics, the sinister genius of Lee Kuan Yew, the intricacies of Japanese sexuality, and much more. His portraits of Benazir Bhutto, Imelda Marcos, Satyajit Ray, and Corazin Aquino are classics of the journalist's art. Buruma shows that the cultural gap between East and West is not as wide as either missionaries or libertines, in East or West, might think. At home in both worlds, he has provided a splendid counterblast to fashionable theories of clashing civilizations and uniquely Asian values. By stripping away our fantasies, Buruma reveals a world that is all too recognizably human. |
Contents
The Suicidal Dandy | 3 |
Japanese Sex | 13 |
The Art of Cruelty | 23 |
Copyright | |
23 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
The Missionary and the Libertine: Love and War in East and West Ian Buruma No preview available - 2001 |
The Missionary and the Libertine: Love and War in East and West Ian Buruma No preview available - 1996 |
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Alperovitz American Aquino Asia Asian System Asian values atomic bombs authoritarian beauty Beijing believe Benazir Bengali bhadralok Bhutto boys Britain British called century Chaudhuri China Chinese Christian civilization colonial communist Cory Coubertin Couperus culture decadence democracy democratic Dutch East economic Eliade elite Emperor empire English European Fallows fantasy feel fight Filipino film forces foreign girl Hiroshima Hong Kong idea Imelda imperial India interesting Japan Japanese Jews Kabuki kind Korean Lee Kuan Lee Kuan Yew liberal living London Maitreyi mandarins Manila Marcos Marsh Arabs Mishima modern moral Morita myths Nagasaki Naipaul native never Olympics Oshima Pakistan peace Pearl Harbor perhaps Philippines political politicians quotes Ray's Reischauer rule samurai SCAP Seidensticker sexual Singapore Singaporean Soviet spirit story Tanizaki Junichiro Tanizaki's theater Thesiger thing tion Tokyo tradition Truman turned wanted West Western writes wrote young