By the Waters of Babylon

Know about the book -

By the Waters of Babylon is written by Arimasa Mori and published by Cornell University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1501780107 (ISBN 10) and 9781501780103 (ISBN 13).

By the Waters of Babylon is a memoir and travelogue by Mori Arimasa, the influential Japanese philosopher and intellectual who interpreted European culture to postwar Japan. A professor of French philosophy, Mori visited Paris and came to the realization that to truly understand the significance of French and European civilization, he would have to live there and immerse himself in French culture. Abandoning his Tokyo professorship, Mori remained in France for over two decades, teaching, translating, and writing. Written in an intimate epistolary style, Mori's memoir chronicles his complex response as an outsider to a culture he so admired. His observations on European art, architecture, literature, and philosophy were highly influential to the first Japanese generation to come of age after World War II, who felt a need for Japan to rejoin the global community. By the Waters of Babylon is a compelling account of cross-cultural encounters and a meditation on living and loving a culture that is so different from one's own.