Theater of Cruelty: Art, Film, and the Shadows of War (2014) is another collection of essays by Ian Buruma that have appeared in The New York Review Of Books from as long ago as 1995 to as recently as 2012, which is an eclectic set of topics much like his previously intriguing collection of essays, The Libertine and the Missionary. Buruma has a myriad of interests, but in his introduction he identifies certain trends in the subjects which he discusses in his essay:
First of all, I am fascinated by what makes the human species behave atrociously. Animals kill other animals for food, and some animals turn on their own kind out of rivalry. But only humans commit acts of extreme and often senseless violence.
He goes onto to explain that: "A way to deal with our fearful fascination with power and cruelty and death is to act it out vicariously in art. hence the title of this book."
The first set of essays concern German history and art: 1. "The Joys and Perils of Victimhood"-about the cult of victimhood associated with Jewish people since WWII's holocaust, 2. "Fascinating Narcissism: Leni Riefenstahl"-discussion of the Third Reich's favorite director, 3. "Werner Herzog and His Heroes"-a look at one of Germany's greatest directors, 4. "The Genius of Berlin: Rainier Werner Fassbinder"-a look at another celebrated German film director, 5. "The Destruction of Germany"-discusses how and why Germany was so heavily bombed in WWII, 6. "There's No Place Like Heimat"-looks at the work of East German "grand master of cinematic kitsch": Hans-Jurgen Syberberg, 7. "The Afterlife of Anne Frank"-discusses the legacy of one of the most famous diaries of all-time, 8. "Occupied Paris: The Sweet and the Cruel"-collaborators and the resistance in Vichy France, 9. "The Twisted Art of the Documentary"-which discusses propaganda and an unfinished propaganda film about the holocaust made by the Nazis.
The next set of essays concern Japan: 10. "Ecstatic About Pearl Harbor"-about wartime diaries of Japanese intellectuals during WWII, 11. "Suicide for the Empire"-about kamikaze pilots and their motives in sacrificing their lives, 12. "Eastwood's War"-looks at his two films on the battle of Iwo Jima, 13. "Robbed of Dreams"-about the symbolic act of the opening a sushi restaurant in Palestine.
I suppose the order must have been difficult to organize with so many different essays and subjects together in one volume: 14. "The Catty Chronicler: Harry Kessler"-discusses the diaries of Count Harry Clement Ulrich Kessler, Anglo-German, aesthete, publisher, art collector, world traveler,writer, part-time diplomat and socialite, 15. "The Believer"-in this essay Buruma takes Christopher Hitchens to task for his undefensible political shift to the right as chronicled in his book Hitch-22, 16. "The Last Bengali Renaissance Man"-an appreciation of legendary director Satyjit Ray, 17. "The Way Live Now: Mike Leigh"-an appreciation of the cinema of British director Mike Leigh, 18. "The Great Art of Embarrassment"-is an appreciative look at the films and plays of British writer Alan Bennett, 19. "The Invention of David Bowie"-analyzes the impact of Bowie on culture as presented by the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition of Bowie's possessions from his personal archive, 20. "Dressing for Success"-is an essay on the life and times of the theatrical Japanese painter Tsuguharu Fujita, 21. "The Circus of Max Beckmann"-an appreciation of German painter Beckmann, 22. "Degenerate Art"-about the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition of the work or Ernest Ludwig Kirchner, 23. "George Crosz's Amerika"-an appreciation of an ex-pat German painter, 24. "Mr.Natural"-an exhibition of the work of R. Crumb leads to an appraisal of his career, 25. "Obsessions In Tokyo"-a very informed review of Japanese exhibitions that have taken place in the past and recently in 2013 in New York, 26. "A Japanese Tragedy"-is about the failings of institutions like government, media, and energy commissions that led to the tragedies of the post tsunami nuclear accidents, 27. "Virtual Violence"-is about Takashi Murakami's "Little Boy" traveling contemporary otaku art exhibition, and finally, 28. "Asiaworld"- discusses the future trajectory of China's government.
It is a very eclectic collection of essays that shows Buruma's far ranging interests as well as his knowledge and expertise in these various subjects. His prose style is extremely readable and draws a number of interesting and original examples and conclusions. I'm always curious about what he will undertake as the subject of his next project.
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