The Pillow Book By Sei Shonagon

  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Unbinding The Pillow Book Gergana Ivanova, 2018-11-06 An eleventh-century classic, The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon is frequently paired with The Tale of Genji as one of the most important works in the Japanese canon. Yet it has also been marginalized within Japanese literature for reasons including the gender of its author, the work’s complex textual history, and its thematic and stylistic depth. In Unbinding The Pillow Book, Gergana Ivanova offers a reception history of The Pillow Book and its author from the seventeenth century to the present that shows how various ideologies have influenced the text and shaped interactions among its different versions. Ivanova examines how and why The Pillow Book has been read over the centuries, placing it in the multiple contexts in which it has been rewritten, including women’s education, literary scholarship, popular culture, “pleasure quarters,” and the formation of the modern nation-state. Drawing on scholarly commentaries, erotic parodies, instruction manuals for women, high school textbooks, and comic books, she considers its outsized role in ideas about Japanese women writers. Ultimately, Ivanova argues for engaging the work’s plurality in order to achieve a clearer understanding of The Pillow Book and the importance it has held for generations of readers, rather than limiting it to a definitive version or singular meaning. The first book-length study in English of the reception history of Sei Shōnagon, Unbinding The Pillow Book sheds new light on the construction of gender and sexuality, how women’s writing has been used to create readerships, and why ancient texts continue to play vibrant roles in contemporary cultural production.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow Book Peter Greenaway, 1996 Script of Greenaway's 1995 film, The pillow book, which was made as an homage to the 10th century story by Sei Shōnagon entitled Makura no sōshi, on which it is loosely based.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Worlding Sei Shônagon Valerie Henitiuk, 2012-06-16 The Makura no Sôshi, or The Pillow Book as it is generally known in English, is a collection of personal reflections and anecdotes about life in the Japanese royal court composed around the turn of the eleventh century by a woman known as Sei Shônagon. Its opening section, which begins haru wa akebono, or “spring, dawn,” is arguably the single most famous passage in Japanese literature. Throughout its long life, The Pillow Book has been translated countless times. It has captured the European imagination with its lyrical style, compelling images and the striking personal voice of its author. Worlding Sei Shônagon guides the reader through the remarkable translation history of The Pillow Book in the West, gathering almost fifty translations of the “spring, dawn” passage, which span one-hundred-and-thirty-five years and sixteen languages. Many of the translations are made readily available for the first time in this study. The versions collected in Worlding Sei Shônagon are an enlightening example of the many ways in which translations can differ from their source text, undermining the idea of translation as the straightforward transfer of meaning from one language to another, one culture to another. By tracing the often convoluted trajectory through which a once wholly foreign literary work becomes domesticated—or resists domestication—this compilation also exposes the various historical, ideological or other forces that inevitably shape our experience of literature, for better or for worse.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow-book of Sei Shōnagon Sei Shōnagon, 1957
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow Book Sei Shonagon, 2006-11-30 A new translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along with the TALE OF GENJI, this is one of the major Japanese Classics.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon , 2018-07-03 The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is a fascinating, detailed account of Japanese court life in the eleventh century. Written by a lady of the court at the height of Heian culture, this book enthralls with its lively gossip, witty observations, and subtle impressions. Lady Shonagon was an erstwhile rival of Lady Murasaki, whose novel, The Tale of Genji, fictionalized the elite world Lady Shonagon so eloquently relates. Featuring reflections on royal and religious ceremonies, nature, conversation, poetry, and many other subjects, The Pillow Book is an intimate look at the experiences and outlook of the Heian upper class, further enriched by Ivan Morris's extensive notes and critical contextualization.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: A Pillow Book Suzanne Buffam, 2016 Sponsored by The Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: You Better Be Lightning Andrea Gibson, 2021-11-09 2023 Feathered Quill Book Awards Gold Medal Winner 2022 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Gold Medal Winner 2022 Over the Rainbow Short List 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards - Best Poetry Book Finalist 2021 Bookshop's Indie Press Highlights You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson is a queer, political, and feminist collection guided by self-reflection. The poems range from close examination of the deeply personal to the vastness of the world, exploring the expansiveness of the human experience from love to illness, from space to climate change, and so much more in between. One of the most celebrated poets and performers of the last two decades, Andrea Gibson's trademark honesty and vulnerability are on full display in You Better Be Lightning, welcoming and inviting readers to be just as they are.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon Sei Shōnagon, 1967
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Essays in Idleness Kenko, Chomei, 2013-12-05 These two works on life's fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist monks from medieval Japan, but each shows a different world-view. In the short memoir Hôjôki, Chômei recounts his decision to withdraw from worldly affairs and live as a hermit in a tiny hut in the mountains, contemplating the impermanence of human existence. Kenko, however, displays a fascination with more earthy matters in his collection of anecdotes, advice and observations. From ribald stories of drunken monks to aching nostalgia for the fading traditions of the Japanese court, Essays in Idleness is a constantly surprising work that ranges across the spectrum of human experience. Meredith McKinney's excellent new translation also includes notes and an introduction exploring the spiritual and historical background of the works. Chômei was born into a family of Shinto priests in around 1155, at at time when the stable world of the court was rapidly breaking up. He became an important though minor poet of his day, and at the age of fifty, withdrew from the world to become a tonsured monk. He died in around 1216. Kenkô was born around 1283 in Kyoto. He probably became a monk in his late twenties, and was also noted as a calligrapher. Today he is remembered for his wise and witty aphorisms, 'Essays in Idleness'. Meredith McKinney, who has also translated Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book for Penguin Classics, is a translator of both contemporary and classical Japanese literature. She lived in Japan for twenty years and is currently a visitng fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra. '[Essays in Idleness is] a most delightful book, and one that has served as a model of Japanese style and taste since the 17th century. These cameo-like vignettes reflect the importance of the little, fleeting futile things, and each essay is Kenko himself' Asian Student
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Dream of Water Kyoko Mori, 2014-07-29 In 1990 author Kyoko Mori returned to her native Japan to visit the landscape of my childhood. There--looking for the house in which her mother killed herself, running on land that was once water, and retracing childhood train trips to her grandparents' farm--she relived the memories and uncovered the secrets that unlocked her past. In The Dream of Water, a series of chapters that are themselves small perfections, she leads us to the larger happiness of an autobiography that is also a work of art. Japan is the land Mori fled as a teenager, seeking to escape from her cold, abusive father and her manipulative stepmother. It is the country she spend her adult life putting behind her, but it is also her homeland. As she searches through familiar neighborhoods and on distant islands, she is constantly aware of the culture she abandoned and the one she has adopted. Pushed by the sights and sounds of contemporary Japan into her interior world of memory and dreams, she also looks out toward the daylight land of America. A personal journey of discovery that is also an exploration of national difference, The Dream of Water explores intimate emotions that reveal profound cultural truths.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: My Name is Sei Shonagon Jan Blensdorf, 2003-11-10 In a small incense shop in modern Tokyo, amid the manic consumerism of cartoon-colored Shibuya youth culture, incense is still made in the ancient way—slowly ground by hand and matured over time. Above the shop, a young woman sits behind a painted screen, listening to men unburden themselves about their work-dominated lives. She calls herself “Sei Shonagon,†? after the eleventh-century woman who wrote The Pillow Book. This exquisite first novel is a Pillow Book for the twenty-first century; its “Sei†? is a young woman who, as a child, moved to Japan from America to live with her strict, tradition-obsessed uncle after the death of her parents, an American academic and a Japanese student. As the novel opens, “Sei,†? now a young woman, lies in a hospital bed, hearing sounds around her, unable to speak except silently to herself-I don't even know if you are still alive…I’m going to talk to you anyway, tell you everything I remember.†? Thus her story unfolds, back to a dark past and toward an unimaginable fate.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: This Is All Aidan Chambers, 2010-07-28 Subtitled The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn this is the story of Cordelia from the time she is 15 until she is 20. She is pregnant and plans to give this account to her daughter on her 16th birthday so that they can share their youth together. She chooses the old and famous Japanese book, 'The Pillow Book' by Sei Shonagon, as a model in order to include all kinds of things she has already written as well as the episodes and thoughts she has now as she compiles her book. She tells of her mother (who died when Cordelia was 5) of her father and her aunt Doris (who marry when she is 16), of her love for William Blacklin, the boy with whom she chooses to have her first sex - and with whom she falls deeply in love. She writes about Julie Martin her teacher who helps her spiritually, describes her love affair with an older married man and her terrifying sexual experience with an unbalanced young man who is obsessed with her. The book includes thoughts on being a women, on poetry, music, reading and writing, on being pregnant and finally of her marriage to William. This Is All is an anthology, written in six 'books' of Cordelia's adolescent life, by turns funny, poignant, sad, exciting, fascinating ironic and truthful about topics that parents often do not tell their children. It is a richly entertaining and challenging read.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: "At the Shores of the Sky" Paul W. Kroll, Jonathan A. Silk, 2020-10-12 Albert Hoffstädt, a classicist by training and polylingual humanist by disposition, has for 25 years been the editor chiefly responsible for the development and acquisition of manuscripts in Asian Studies for Brill. During that time he has shepherded over 700 books into print and has distinguished himself as a figure of exceptional discernment and insight in academic publishing. He has also become a personal friend to many of his authors. A subset of these authors here offers to him in tribute and gratitude 22 essays on various topics in Asian Studies. These include studies on premodern Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Korean literature, history, and religion, extending also into the modern and contemporary periods. They display the broad range of Mr. Hoffstädt's interests while presenting some of the most outstanding scholarship in Asian Studies today.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: In Good Relation Sarah Nickel, Amanda Fehr, 2020-05-01 Over the past thirty years, a strong canon of Indigenous feminist literature has addressed how Indigenous women are uniquely and dually affected by colonialism and patriarchy. Indigenous women have long recognized that their intersectional realities were not represented in mainstream feminism, which was principally white, middle-class, and often ignored realities of colonialism. As Indigenous feminist ideals grew, Indigenous women became increasingly multi-vocal, with multiple and oppositional understandings of what constituted Indigenous feminism and whether or not it was a useful concept. Emerging from these dialogues are conversations from a new generation of scholars, activists, artists, and storytellers who accept the usefulness of Indigenous feminism and seek to broaden the concept. In Good Relation captures this transition and makes sense of Indigenous feminist voices that are not necessarily represented in existing scholarship. There is a need to further Indigenize our understandings of feminism and to take the scholarship beyond a focus on motherhood, life history, or legal status (in Canada) to consider the connections between Indigenous feminisms, Indigenous philosophies, the environment, kinship, violence, and Indigenous Queer Studies. Organized around the notion of “generations,” this collection brings into conversation new voices of Indigenous feminist theory, knowledge, and experience. Taking a broad and critical interpretation of Indigenous feminism, it depicts how an emerging generation of artists, activists, and scholars are envisioning and invigorating the strength and power of Indigenous women.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon Sei Shonagon, Arthur Waley, 2013-10 This is a new release of the original 1928 edition.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow-book of Sei Shonagon I. Morris, Sei-Shonagon, 1967
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: A Virtual Love Andrew Blackman, 2013-03-01 'A compelling and very entertaining look at the complexities of our hyperreal age, an insightful and witty exploration of the disconnect between image and reality, truth and appearance and whether love and sincere sentiment can overcome the short term thrills of social media.'James MillerFor Jeff Brennan, juggling multiple identities is a way of life.Online he has dozens of different personalities and switches easily between them. Offline, he shows different faces to different people: the caring grandson, the angry eco-protester, the bored IT consultant.So when the beautiful Marie mistakes him for a famous blogger, he thinks nothing of adding this new identity to his repertoire.But as they fall in love and start building a life together, Jeff is gradually forced into more and more desperate measures to maintain his new identity, and the boundaries between his carefully segregated personas begin to fray.In a world where truth is a matter of perspective and identities are interchangeable, Jeff finds himself trapped in his own web of lies. How far will he go to maintain his secrets? And even if he wanted to turn back, would he be able to?
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Socrates Express Eric Weiner, 2020-08-25 The New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss embarks on a rollicking intellectual journey, following in the footsteps of history’s greatest thinkers and showing us how each—from Epicurus to Gandhi, Thoreau to Beauvoir—offers practical and spiritual lessons for today’s unsettled times. We turn to philosophy for the same reasons we travel: to see the world from a dif­ferent perspective, to unearth hidden beauty, and to find new ways of being. We want to learn how to embrace wonder. Face regrets. Sustain hope. Eric Weiner combines his twin passions for philosophy and travel in a globe-trotting pil­grimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from great thinkers around the world, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, Confucius to Simone Weil. Traveling by train (the most thoughtful mode of transport), he journeys thousands of miles, making stops in Athens, Delhi, Wyoming, Coney Island, Frankfurt, and points in between to recon­nect with philosophy’s original purpose: teaching us how to lead wiser, more meaningful lives. From Socrates and ancient Athens to Beauvoir and 20th-century Paris, Weiner’s chosen philosophers and places provide important practical and spiritual lessons as we navigate today’s chaotic times. In a “delightful” odyssey that “will take you places intellectually and humorously” (San Francisco Book Review), Weiner invites us to voyage alongside him on his life-changing pursuit of wisdom and discovery as he attempts to find answers to our most vital questions. The Socrates Express is “full of valuable lessons…a fun, sharp book that draws readers in with its apparent simplicity and bubble-gum philosophy approach and gradually pulls them in deeper and deeper” (NPR).
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Polite Lies Kyoko Mori, 1999-04-06 In this powerful, exquisitely crafted book, Kyoko Mori delves into her dual heritage with a rare honesty that is both graceful and stirring. From her unhappy childhood in Japan, weighted by a troubled family and a constricting culture, to the American Midwest, where she found herself free to speak as a strong-minded independent woman, though still an outsider, Mori explores the different codes of silence, deference, and expression that govern Japanese and American women's lives: the ties that bind us to family and the lies that keep us apart; the rituals of mourning that give us the courage to accept death; the images of the body that make sex seem foreign to Japanese women and second nature to Americans. In the sensitive hands of this compelling writer, one woman's life becomes the mirror of two profoundly different societies.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Seeds in the Heart , 1999 Donald Keene, a noted authority in the field, offers a guide through the first 900 years of Japanese literature. This period not only defined the unique properties of Japanese prose and prosody, but also produced some of its greatest works.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow-book of Sei Shōnagon Sei Shōnagon, 1960
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Essays in Idleness 吉田兼好, 1998 The Buddhist priest Kenko clung to tradition, Buddhism, and the pleasures of solitude, and the themes he treats in his Essays, written sometime between 1330 and 1332, are all suffused with an unspoken acceptance of Buddhist beliefs.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches Matsuo Basho, 2020-02-27 'It was with awe That I beheld Fresh leaves, green leaves, Bright in the sun' When the Japanese haiku master Basho composed The Narrow Road to the Deep North, he was an ardent student of Zen Buddhism, setting off on a series of travels designed to strip away the trappings of the material world and bring spiritual enlightenment. He writes of the seasons changing, the smell of the rain, the brightness of the moon and the beauty of the waterfall, through which he sensed the mysteries of the universe. These writings not only chronicle Basho's travels, but they also capture his vision of eternity in the transient world around him. Translated with an Introduction by Nobuyuki Yuasa
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Vagabonds! Eloghosa Osunde, 2023-02-28 NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE AND THE VCU CABELL FIRST NOVELIST AWARD “If you read one debut novel in 2022, this should be it.” —Los Angeles Times In the bustling streets and cloistered homes of Lagos, a cast of vivid characters—some haunted, some defiant—navigate danger, demons, and love in a quest to lead true lives. As in Nigeria, vagabonds are those whose existence is literally outlawed: the queer, the poor, the displaced, the footloose and rogue spirits. They are those who inhabit transient spaces, who make their paths and move invisibly, who embrace apparitions, old vengeances and alternative realities. Eloghosa Osunde's brave, fiercely inventive novel traces a wild array of characters for whom life itself is a form of resistance: a driver for a debauched politician with the power to command life and death; a legendary fashion designer who gives birth to a grown daughter; a lesbian couple whose tender relationship sheds unexpected light on their experience with underground sex work; a wife and mother who attends a secret spiritual gathering that shifts her world. As their lives intertwine—in bustling markets and underground clubs, churches and hotel rooms—vagabonds are seized and challenged by spirits who command the city's dark energy. Whether running from danger, meeting with secret lovers, finding their identities, or vanquishing their shadowselves, Osunde's characters confront and support one another, before converging for the once-in-a-lifetime gathering that gives the book its unexpectedly joyous conclusion. Blending unvarnished realism with myth and fantasy, Vagabonds! is a vital work of imagination that takes us deep inside the hearts, minds, and bodies of a people in duress—and in triumph.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow-book of Sei Shonagon Sei Shonagon, 1957
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Pillow-book Sei Shōnagon, 1960
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Gender issues in the Pillow Book and the Essays in Idleness Kati Neubauer, 2009-08-18 Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Sociology - Relationships and Family, grade: 1,0, Muhlenberg College, course: Introduction to Traditional Japan, language: English, abstract: The Pillow Book (PB) by Sei Shonagon and the Essays in Idleness (EI) by Yoshida Kenko are both considered classic Japanese literature. Both books deal with the court life during their time period. While Sei Shonagon expresses a feminine view and Kenko a masculine opinion, a comparison between the Pillow Book and the Essays in Idleness can be made by bringing their thoughts towards the other sex in contrast to each other. Furthermore, a change in gender roles can be observed. The essay will lay open the reciprocal critics, but also show how deeply both authors fall for the other sex.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow-book of Sei Shōnagon Sei Shōnagon, Arthur Waley, 1979
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Anthology of Japanese Literature, from the Earliest Era to the Mid-nineteenth Century Donald Keene, 1955 Collection of Japanese works including poetry, prose and drama.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Diary of Lady Murasaki Murasaki Shikibu, 1996-03-07 The Diary recorded by Lady Murasaki (c. 973-c. 1020), author of The Tale of Genji, is an intimate picture of her life as tutor and companion to the young Empress Shoshi. Told in a series of vignettes, it offers revealing glimpses of the Japanese imperial palace - the auspicious birth of a prince, rivalries between the Emperor's consorts, with sharp criticism of Murasaki's fellow ladies-in-waiting and drunken courtiers, and telling remarks about the timid Empress and her powerful father, Michinaga. The Diary is also a work of great subtlety and intense personal reflection, as Murasaki makes penetrating insights into human psychology - her pragmatic observations always balanced by an exquisite and pensive melancholy.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Japanese Poetry Arthur Waley, 1919
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Story of Hong Gildong Kyun Hŏ, 2016-03-15 Hong Gildong, a brilliant but illegitimate son of a noble government minister, cannot advance in society and embarks on a series of adventures, joining a band of outlaws, vanquishing assassins and monsters, and founding his own kingdom.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: On The Holloway Road Andrew Blackman, 2009-02-28 Unmotivated and dormant, Jack is drawn into the rampant whirlwind of Neil Blake, who he meets one windy night on the Holloway Road. Inspired by Jack Kerouac's famous road novel, the two young men climb aboard Jack's Figaro and embark on a similar search for freedom and meaning in modern-day Britain. Pulled along in Neil's careering path, taking them from the pubs of London's Holloway Road to the fringes of the Outer Hebrides, Jack begins to ask questions of himself, his friend and what there is in life to grasp. Spiting speed cameras and CCTV, motorway riots and island detours, will their path lead to new meaning or ultimate destruction?
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams Lady Sarashina, 1989-12-05 Born at the height of the Heian period, the pseudonymous Lady Sarashina reveals much about the Japanese literary tradition in this haunting self-portrait. Born in 1008, Lady Sarashina was a lady-in-waiting of Heian-period Japan. Her work stands out for its descriptions of her travels and pilgrimages and is unique in the literature of the period, as well as one of the first in the genre of travel writing. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Last Tea Bowl Thief Jonelle Patrick, 2020-10-20 For three hundred years, a stolen relic passes from one fortune-seeker to the next, indelibly altering the lives of those who possess it. In modern-day Tokyo, Robin Swann’s life has sputtered to a stop. She’s stuck in a dead-end job testing antiquities for an auction house, but her true love is poetry, not pottery. Her stalled dissertation sits on her laptop, unopened in months, and she has no one to confide in but her goldfish. On the other side of town, Nori Okuda sells rice bowls and tea cups to Tokyo restaurants, as her family has done for generations. But with her grandmother in the hospital, the family business is foundering. Nori knows if her luck doesn’t change soon, she’ll lose what little she has left. With nothing in common, Nori and Robin suddenly find their futures inextricably linked to an ancient, elusive tea bowl. Glimpses of the past set the stage as they hunt for the lost masterpiece, uncovering long-buried secrets in their wake. As they get closer to the truth—and the tea bowl—the women must choose between seizing their dreams or righting the terrible wrong that has poisoned its legacy for centuries.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Chronicles of My Life Donald Keene, 2008 I sometimes think that if, as the result of an accident, I were to lose my knowledge of Japanese, there would not be much left for me. Japanese, which at first had no connection with my ancestors, my literary tastes, or my awareness of myself as a person, has become the central element of my life. In this eloquent and wholly absorbing memoir, the renowned scholar Donald Keene shares more than half a century of his extraordinary adventures as a student of Japan. Keene begins with an account of his bittersweet childhood in New York; then he describes his initial encounters with Asia and Europe and the way in which World War II complicated that experience. He captures the sights, scents, and sounds of Japan as they first enveloped him, and talks of the unique travels and well-known intellectuals who later shaped the contours of his academic career. Keene traces the movement of his passions with delicacy and subtlety, deftly weaving his love for Japan into a larger narrative about identity and home and the circumstances that led a Westerner to find solace in a country on the opposite side of the world. Chronicles of My Life is not only a fascinating tale of two cultures colliding, but also a thrilling account of the emotions and experiences that connect us all, regardless of our individual origins.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon , 2011-03-10 Japan in the 10th century stood physically and culturally isolated from the rest of the world. Inside this bubble, a subtle and beautiful world was in operation, and its inhabitants were tied to the moment, having no interest in the future and disdain for the past. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon was a product of a tenth-century courtier's experiences in the palace of Empress Teishi. A common custom of the time period, courtiers used to keep notes or a diary in a wooden pillow with a drawer. This pillow book reflects the confident aesthetic judgments of Shonagon and her ability to create prose that crossed into the realm of the poetic. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is one of the earliest examples of diary literature whose passages chronicle the events of the court calendar, the ceremonies and celebrations specific to Teishi's court, and the vignettes that provide brilliantly drawn glimpses into the manners and foibles of the aristocracy. A contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, the author of The Tale of Genji, this small diary brings an added dimension to Murasaki's timeless and seminal work. Arthur Waley's elegant translation of The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon captures the beauty of its prose and the vitality of Shonagon's narrative voice, as well as her quirky personality traits. In a place and time where poetry was as important as knowledge and beauty was highly revered, Sei Shonagon's private writings give the reader a charming and intimate glimpse into a time of isolated innocence and pale beauty.
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: Apollo's Angels Jennifer Homans, 2010-11-02 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, LOS ANGELES TIMES, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY For more than four hundred years, the art of ballet has stood at the center of Western civilization. Its traditions serve as a record of our past. Lavishly illustrated and beautifully told, Apollo’s Angels—the first cultural history of ballet ever written—is a groundbreaking work. From ballet’s origins in the Renaissance and the codification of its basic steps and positions under France’s Louis XIV (himself an avid dancer), the art form wound its way through the courts of Europe, from Paris and Milan to Vienna and St. Petersburg. In the twentieth century, émigré dancers taught their art to a generation in the United States and in Western Europe, setting off a new and radical transformation of dance. Jennifer Homans, a historian, critic, and former professional ballerina, wields a knowledge of dance born of dedicated practice. Her admiration and love for the ballet, as Entertainment Weekly notes, brings “a dancer’s grace and sure-footed agility to the page.”
  the pillow book by sei shonagon: A Different Distance Marilyn Hacker, Karthika Naïr, 2021-12-14 An Indie Next Selection for December 2021 A Ms. Magazine Recommended Read for Fall 2021 In March 2020, France declared a full lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Shortly thereafter, poets and friends Marilyn Hacker and Karthika Naïr—living mere miles from each other but separated by circumstance, and spurred by this extraordinary time—began a correspondence in verse. Renga, an ancient Japanese form of collaborative poetry, is comprised of alternating tanka beginning with the themes of tōki and tōza: this season, this session. Here, from the “plague spring,” through a year in which seasons are marked by the waxing and waning of the virus, Hacker and Naïr’s renga charts the “differents and sames” of a now-shared experience. Their poems witness a time of suspension in which some things, somehow, press on relentlessly, in which solidarity persists—even thrives—in the face of a strange new kind of isolation. Between “ten thousand, yes, minutes of Bones,” there’s cancer and chemotherapy and the aches of an aging body. There is grief for the loss of friends nearby and concern for loved ones in the United States, Lebanon, and India. And there is a deep sense of shared humanity, where we all are “mere atoms of water, / each captained by protons of hydrogen, hurtling earthward.” At turns poignant and playful, the seasons and sessions of A Different Distance display the compassionate, collective wisdom of two women witnessing a singular moment in history.
THE PILLOW BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON - University of Utah
THE PILLOW BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON 'l'RANSLATl::O ANI) IW ITEO OY IVAN MORRIS PENGUIN BOOKS . Emperor had summuned a couple of ladies-in-waiting who were …

The Pillow-Book of Sei Shonagon - Archive.org
THE PILLOW-BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON JALAN IN [HE TENTH CENTURY Wuen the first volume of The Tale of Genji appeared in English, the prevailing comment of critics was that the …

THE PENGUIN CLASSICS - Internet Archive
The Pillow Book is the precursor of a typically Japanese genre known as zuihitsu (“occasional writings”, “random notes”) which has lasted until the present day and which includes some of …

The Pillow-Book of Sei Shonagon Translated by Ivan Morris
Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book (Makura no Soshi) is the private journal of a lady-in-waiting to the Empress of Japan written during the 990’s. Sei served her empress during the late Heian …

The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon
Sei Shōnagon’s Pillow Book per-fected a genre where brief observa-tions and vignettes offer a direct and immediate sense of a time and place. Her book is invaluable because it reflects …

The Pillow Book – Sei Shonagon - scholarworks.iu.edu
The Pillow Book is a book of observations and thoughts recorded by a lady-in-waiting in the late 10th Century Japanese court. It begins with a poetic appreciation of the four seasons and then …

THE PILLOW BOOK AND THE JAPANESE MINDSET - 政府広報オン …
Pillow Book derives from beautiful depictions of the four seasons by Lady Sei Shonagon, who wrote over a thousand years ago in the Heian Period (794-1185),” explains professor Etsuko …

Primary Source Packet 1. Diary, Sei Shônagon 1 - Roy Rosenzweig …
Sei Shônagon, a lady in waiting to Empress Teishi (or Sadako), left a journal of anecdotes, impressions, and commentary called The Pillowbook (covering the years 986-1000 C.E.) that …

The Pillow Book (book) - sclc2019.iaslc.org
The Pillow Book Of Sei Shonagon Classics (book) This ebook, presented in a PDF format ( Download in PDF: *), is a masterpiece that goes beyond conventional storytelling. Indulge your …

The Pillow Book Of Sei Shonagon Classics (book) - wclc2019.iaslc.org
Unbinding The Pillow Book sheds new light on the construction of gender and sexuality, how women’s writing has been used to create readerships, and why ancient texts continue to play …

The Pillow Book Of Sei Shonagon Classics (book) - asia2018.iaslc.org
Unbinding The Pillow Book sheds new light on the construction of gender and sexuality, how women’s writing has been used to create readerships, and why ancient texts continue to play …

REVIEWS THE PILLOW BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON, translated and …
THE PILLOW BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON, translated and edited by Ivan Morris. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967. Two volumes: Volume I, pp. xxiii + 268 + 8 illustrations; …

CHAPTER LITERATURE SELECTION The Pillow Book 12 by Sei …
The Pillow Book (George Allen and Unwin). Reprinted in John D. Yohannan, ed., A Treasury of Asian Literature (New York: New American Library, 1956), 139–143. Discussion Questions. …

Sei Shônagon's Makura no sôshi: A Re-Visionary History
Sei Sh6nagon's Makura no sdshi (The Pillow Book ofSei Shonagon), is widely recognized as one of the two literary classics of the Heian period (794-1185) along with Murasaki Shikibu's Genji …

The Pillow Book Of Sei Shonagon Classics (2024)
examines how and why The Pillow Book has been read over the centuries, placing it in the multiple contexts in which it has been rewritten, including women’s education, literary …

Lesson Plan for Japan: The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
Lesson Plan for Japan: The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon Purpose: This lesson is intended to use literature of its time to help students understand Heian court culture. Target grade level: 12 …

“Every Trivial Little Thing”: Sei Shonagon and the Poetics of ...
It is written by a but-terfly for butterflies. c. 1001–1013) and Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book (Makura no soshi, c. 996–1000)—a jumbled miscellany of anecdotes, descriptive passages, …

Reading Girls’ Agency: The Pillow Book and Flower Tales, Past
in Flower Tales originates in Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book) written by Sei Shonagon in the 10th century. The Pillow Book is Japan’s oldest collection of essays and is a record of the life of …

Jamie M. Foley
Studying the Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon Purpose: Social behavior in The Pillow Book can be compared to expected social norms of today. Essential Questions: 1. How do Sei Shonagon’s …

Journalism, Essays, Broadcasting, Books
A PILLOW BOOK is an open-ended and spontaneous collection of fragments, and as such may include lists, observations, poems, short personal essays and diary entries. A precursor of the …

THE PILLOW BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON - University of Utah
THE PILLOW BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON 'l'RANSLATl::O ANI) IW ITEO OY IVAN MORRIS PENGUIN BOOKS . Emperor had summuned a couple of ladies-in-waiting who were particularly adept in poetry and told them to mnrk each incorrect reply by n …

The Pillow-Book of Sei Shonagon - Archive.org
THE PILLOW-BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON JALAN IN [HE TENTH CENTURY Wuen the first volume of The Tale of Genji appeared in English, the prevailing comment of critics was that the book revealed a subtle and highly developed civilization, the very existence of which had hitherto remained un- suspected.

THE PENGUIN CLASSICS - Internet Archive
The Pillow Book is the precursor of a typically Japanese genre known as zuihitsu (“occasional writings”, “random notes”) which has lasted until the present day and which includes some of the most valued works in the country’s literature.

The Pillow-Book of Sei Shonagon Translated by Ivan Morris
Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book (Makura no Soshi) is the private journal of a lady-in-waiting to the Empress of Japan written during the 990’s. Sei served her empress during the late Heian Period (a particularly vibrant time for Japanese arts and the beginning of Japan’s feudal age) and was a contemporary of

The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon
Sei Shōnagon’s Pillow Book per-fected a genre where brief observa-tions and vignettes offer a direct and immediate sense of a time and place. Her book is invaluable because it reflects Eleventh Century Japanese court life; because of the beauty of her style; and because, in fact, women writers recognized for genius have indeed

The Pillow Book – Sei Shonagon - scholarworks.iu.edu
The Pillow Book is a book of observations and thoughts recorded by a lady-in-waiting in the late 10th Century Japanese court. It begins with a poetic appreciation of the four seasons and then goes on to portray aspects of court life. Section 14 provides a hilarious list of pet peeves, entitled “Hateful Things”

THE PILLOW BOOK AND THE JAPANESE MINDSET - 政府広報オ …
Pillow Book derives from beautiful depictions of the four seasons by Lady Sei Shonagon, who wrote over a thousand years ago in the Heian Period (794-1185),” explains professor Etsuko Akama of Jumonji University. “Starting with the famous opening line, ‘In spring, the dawn—when the slowly paling mountain rim is tinged with red…’ she

Primary Source Packet 1. Diary, Sei Shônagon 1 - Roy Rosenzweig …
Sei Shônagon, a lady in waiting to Empress Teishi (or Sadako), left a journal of anecdotes, impressions, and commentary called The Pillowbook (covering the years 986-1000 C.E.) that has become a valuable source for the court society and cultural life of the Heian Period. Sei’s description of natural scenes and phenomena are admired for their

The Pillow Book (book) - sclc2019.iaslc.org
The Pillow Book Of Sei Shonagon Classics (book) This ebook, presented in a PDF format ( Download in PDF: *), is a masterpiece that goes beyond conventional storytelling. Indulge your senses in prose, poetry, and knowledge.

The Pillow Book Of Sei Shonagon Classics (book)
Unbinding The Pillow Book sheds new light on the construction of gender and sexuality, how women’s writing has been used to create readerships, and why ancient texts continue to play vibrant roles in contemporary cultural production.

The Pillow Book Of Sei Shonagon Classics (book)
Unbinding The Pillow Book sheds new light on the construction of gender and sexuality, how women’s writing has been used to create readerships, and why ancient texts continue to play vibrant roles in contemporary cultural production.

REVIEWS THE PILLOW BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON, translated and …
THE PILLOW BOOK OF SEI SHONAGON, translated and edited by Ivan Morris. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967. Two volumes: Volume I, pp. xxiii + 268 + 8 illustrations; Volume Ii, pp. 326. Volume i, $9.oo; Volume II, $12.50; two-volume set, $20.00. In the "Preliminary Notes" to his delightful Pillow-Book of Sei

CHAPTER LITERATURE SELECTION The Pillow Book 12 by Sei …
The Pillow Book (George Allen and Unwin). Reprinted in John D. Yohannan, ed., A Treasury of Asian Literature (New York: New American Library, 1956), 139–143. Discussion Questions. Clarifying. 1. Why do the ladies go to the bridge behind the Kamo Shrine? 2. How does Akinobu entertain the ladies when they come to his house? 3. Comparing ...

Sei Shônagon's Makura no sôshi: A Re-Visionary History
Sei Sh6nagon's Makura no sdshi (The Pillow Book ofSei Shonagon), is widely recognized as one of the two literary classics of the Heian period (794-1185) along with Murasaki Shikibu's Genji monogatari (The Tale of

The Pillow Book Of Sei Shonagon Classics (2024)
examines how and why The Pillow Book has been read over the centuries, placing it in the multiple contexts in which it has been rewritten, including women’s education, literary scholarship, popular culture, “pleasure quarters,” and the formation of the modern

Lesson Plan for Japan: The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
Lesson Plan for Japan: The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon Purpose: This lesson is intended to use literature of its time to help students understand Heian court culture. Target grade level: 12 Topic: Heian court culture The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon zuihitsu (miscellany) and waka (31 syllable poetry) Concepts: secular and sacred traditions

“Every Trivial Little Thing”: Sei Shonagon and the Poetics of ...
It is written by a but-terfly for butterflies. c. 1001–1013) and Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book (Makura no soshi, c. 996–1000)—a jumbled miscellany of anecdotes, descriptive passages, reminiscences, essays, eclectic catalogues, and diary entries.

Reading Girls’ Agency: The Pillow Book and Flower Tales, Past
in Flower Tales originates in Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book) written by Sei Shonagon in the 10th century. The Pillow Book is Japan’s oldest collection of essays and is a record of the life of Sei Shonagon with Empress Teishi and Sei Shonagon’s colleagues. In fact, during the time Yoshiya was writing, in the 1910s and 1920s, Sei

Jamie M. Foley
Studying the Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon Purpose: Social behavior in The Pillow Book can be compared to expected social norms of today. Essential Questions: 1. How do Sei Shonagon’s observations regarding social behavior compare to today’s social expectations? 2. What can readers infer about authors based on their chosen content and style? 3.

Journalism, Essays, Broadcasting, Books
A PILLOW BOOK is an open-ended and spontaneous collection of fragments, and as such may include lists, observations, poems, short personal essays and diary entries. A precursor of the genre zuihitsu (random jottings – the more literal meaning to proceed, or follow, with a brush), this literary form made