The Waterless Sea: A Curious History of Mirages

Mirages have long astonished travelers of the sea and beguiled thirsty desert voyagers. Traditional Chinese and Japanese poetry and art depict the above-horizon, superior mirage, or fata morgana, as exhalations of clam-monsters. Indian sources relate mirages to the "thirst of gazelles," a metaphor for the futility of desire. Starting in the late eighteenth century, mirages became a symbol in the West of Oriental despotism--a negative, but also enchanted, emblem. But the mirage motif is rarely simply condemnatory. More often, our obsession with mirages conveys a sense of escape, of fascination, of a desire to be deceived. The Waterless Sea is the first book devoted to the theories and history of mirages. Christopher Pinney navigates a sinuous pathway through a mysterious and evanescent terrain, showing how mirages have impacted politics, culture, science, and religion--and how we can continue to learn from their sublimity.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Published: 07/15/2018
ISBN: 9781780239323
Pages: 184
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.30h x 6.10w x 0.90d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 06/11/2018
Choice 12/01/2018