Since there were a few members of our seminar unable to make it to class this morning, I wanted to give a summary of a key part of our discussion. I hope this will be useful for the rest of us, as well, and please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments below!
We discussed a section from de Waal’s Prologue in which he describes a story he remembers his grandmother, Elisabeth, once told him about Charles Ephrussi, the art collector who first collected the netsuke. He imagines one version of the story he could write, one with “stitched-together wistful anecdotes” and “some clippings from Google on ballrooms in the Belle Époque” (15). But that narrative, he says, “would come out as nostalgic. And thin.” de Waal tells us, “I am not interested in thin” (15).
So we considered what it meant for a narrative to be “thin” or “thick.” Here are some summarizing points of that discussion:
Thin Narratives:
-Are nostalgic and melancholic–based on hindsight and the writer’s feelings about the past.
-Are therefore self-centered (literally)–mainly about the writer.
-Are clichéd, and tend to tell stories that are the same as other people’s stories (see de Waal on p. 151 discussing a moment where his narrative almost “thins” out).
Thick Narratives:
-Are full of “exactitude” (de Waal 16) and based on careful details.
-Reconstruct the places, things, and experience of a time: “I want to be able to reach to the handle of the door and turn it and feel it open. I want to walk into each room where this object has lived, to feel the volume of the space, to know what pictures were on the walls, how the light fell from the windows” (de Waal 16).
-Create an experience constructed out of multidisciplinary knowledge of the past. For instance, de Waal draws upon:
- Architecture
- Urban history and planning
- Psychology and sociology
- Art and Art History
- Literature
- Photography
- Fashion
- Intellectual History
-Are based on discovery and trying to find something new about the subject or history (rather than re-telling familiar stories)
-Are Connected to other stories and histories–move beyond the “self”
-Develop/Have an Arc
In summary, The Hare with Amber Eyes offers us a model for telling historical narratives both with and through objects. The text invites us to touch the netsuke and experience their history by placing them in a rich (“thick”) cultural history.
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
I was so sorry to miss the class; I’m sure it was a great discussion. Thanks so much for the summary — it was extremely helpful.
I had a few thoughts during the reading of the The Hare, which were addressed by this summary. First, I found it strange that de Waal reported the continuing affairs of his great-grandparents Victor & Emmy so objectively — like it didn’t matter at all. It may have been common in Vienna (and elsewhere) to have affairs, but it was not “acceptable” at that time, at least overtly. The birth of Rudolf brought this home in my mind in particular: was he Victor’s child, or her lover’s? Does it matter? Does the author care if his grandmother Elisabeth belonged to Victor? (I question this because, on my own geneology search, I could not find a marriage record for my father’s parents. Although they were married under common law, this was still not acceptable in 1921.)
In additio: the relationship between Uncle Iggie and Jiro. The author never states that Iggie was “gay”, yet reading between the lines, I thought so. If so, would he have adopted Jiro (a lover?) as his son? Again, de Waal makes no mention, let alone judgment, of this.
Should I assume that de Waal’s focus was on the provenance of the netsuke, and so none of the above-mentioned stuff matters? Looking forward to next class discussion!
Thanks for these comment and questions, Sandy. We touched upon the second question in class. The relationship between Iggie and Jiro is only vaguely introduced in the beginning. It gets fleshed out later on, but yes, they were lovers/life partners. This is somewhat confused by the odd genealogy chart, which makes Jiro look like his son.
As for the first, we also glanced at this, but gave a little less attention to it. You are right that de Waal is quite objective about his family’s extensive extra-marital affairs. I do think it’s part of his effort to allow the past to emerge organically. He asks us to see the characters in the story (and their connections to the netsuke) for what they were and how they existed in their own time.