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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This anthology aims to convey the intellectual and philosophical depth of Asian (particularly Japanese) martial arts to Western readers, but the low quality of the selections undermines the premise that such depth exists. Donohue, editor of The Journal of Asian Martial Arts, includes excerpts from Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist philosophical works, essays by and about martial arts practitioners and snippets of martial arts-themed fiction by the likes of David Guterson and Maxine Hong Kingston; his own scholarly articles on the classification and social psychology of martial arts are among the better pieces. The selections demonstrate that a readable prose style is not among the skills imparted in the dojo. Dull treatises on the flow of chi energy abound, while an encomium to the "Three Martial Virtues" of strength, courage and loyalty makes The Boy Scout Manual look scintillating. Profiles of martial arts masters tend towards hagiography: expert swordsman Tesshu is said to have been able to defeat opponents without touching them, using spiritual force alone, and anthropologist David Jones lauds martial arts teachers as "robust and vital personalities" who all "love laughter" and "radiate a child-like innocence." Ironically, the many turgid exegeses of Zen philosophy, which recommends cultivating "a mind devoid of ideas and judgment... like an empty gourd," highlight the anti-intellectualism of the martial arts ethos rather than its supposed spiritual profundity. The collection’s one really bright spot, Mark Salzman’s electric account of kung-fu training in China, keeps the focus on the discipline’s celebration of physical power, speed and agility. On the whole, however, these murky, shallow writings make the martial arts seem like anything but a path to enlightenment.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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More About the Author
John Donohue is a novelist with a Ph.D in anthropology who has also been banging around martial arts dojo for more than 30 years. He's an expert on the study of the martial arts.
He's has worked in the hospitality, advertising, and publishing industries, but for the bulk of his non-writing career he has been a higher education professional, working as both a teacher and senior level manager at a number of colleges--strapped, as he says, to the wheel of administrative karma. He currently serves as Provost at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven CT.
John is the author of four novels in the Burke/Yamashita thriller series. Previous titles were Tengu, Deshi and Sensei. The fourth in the series, Kage, was released in July 2011. Among his other works are Herding the Ox, Complete Kendo, The Overlook Martial Arts Reader, Volume 2. He's currently at work on a new novel, The Qi Eaters.
Fusing the way of the pen and the way of the sword, while writing John has trained in the martial disciplines of aikido, iaido, judo, karatedo, kendo, and
taiji. He has dan (black belt) ranks in both karatedo and kendo.
He's has worked in the hospitality, advertising, and publishing industries, but for the bulk of his non-writing career he has been a higher education professional, working as both a teacher and senior level manager at a number of colleges--strapped, as he says, to the wheel of administrative karma. He currently serves as Provost at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven CT.
John is the author of four novels in the Burke/Yamashita thriller series. Previous titles were Tengu, Deshi and Sensei. The fourth in the series, Kage, was released in July 2011. Among his other works are Herding the Ox, Complete Kendo, The Overlook Martial Arts Reader, Volume 2. He's currently at work on a new novel, The Qi Eaters.
Fusing the way of the pen and the way of the sword, while writing John has trained in the martial disciplines of aikido, iaido, judo, karatedo, kendo, and
taiji. He has dan (black belt) ranks in both karatedo and kendo.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Great Idea!,
This review is from: The Overlook Martial Arts Reader, Vol. 2 (Hardcover)
This is an excellent collection of writings on every aspect of the martial arts. Although it features some material already featured in volume 1, it still has enough information in it to be worth purchase, preferably with volume 1. Please note that the information contained in this and the previous volume is quite complex, and will require a great amount of time, but it is time well spent!
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