The Sarashina Diary : A Woman's Life in Eleventh-Century Japan (Reader's Edition) Hardback

by Sugawara no Takasue no Musume Sugawara no Takasue no Musume

Part of the Translations from the Asian Classics series

Hardback

Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks

Description

A thousand years ago, a young Japanese girl embarked on a journey from deep in the countryside of eastern Japan to the capital.

Forty years later, with the long account of that journey as a foundation, the mature woman skillfully created an autobiography that incorporates many moments of heightened awareness from her long life.

Married at age thirty-three, she identified herself as a reader and writer more than as a wife and mother; enthralled by fiction, she bore witness to the dangers of romantic fantasy as well as the enduring consolation of self-expression. This readerâ€™s edition streamlines Sonja Arntzen and Moriyuki ItÅâ€™s acclaimed translation of the Sarashina Diary for general readers and classroom use.

This translation captures the lyrical richness of the original text while revealing its subtle structure and ironic meaning, highlighting the authorâ€™s deep concern for Buddhist belief and practice and the juxtaposition of poetic passages and narrative prose.

The translatorsâ€™ commentary offers insight into the authorâ€™s family and world, as well as the style, structure, and textual history of her work.