The Pillow Book

Informationen zum Autor Meredith McKinney is a translator of Japanese literature, both contemporary and classical. She lived in Japan for twenty years and currently lives in Braidwood, New South Wales. Meredith McKinney is a translator of Japanese literature, both contemporary and classical. She lived in Japan for twenty years and currently lives in Braidwood, New South Wales. Klappentext The classic portrayal of court life in tenth-century Japan Written by the court gentlewoman Sei Shonagon, ostensibly for her own amusement, The Pillow Book offers a fascinating exploration of life among the nobility at the height of the Heian period, describing the exquisite pleasures of a confined world in which poetry, love, fashion, and whim dominated, while harsh reality was kept firmly at a distance. Moving elegantly across a wide range of themes including nature, society, and her own flirtations, Sei Shonagon provides a witty and intimate window on a woman's life at court in classical Japan. 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. Zusammenfassung A translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along with the "Tale of Genji", it is one of the major Japanese classics.

Autorentext

Meredith McKinney is a translator of Japanese literature, both contemporary and classical. She lived in Japan for twenty years and currently lives in Braidwood, New South Wales.

Meredith McKinney is a translator of Japanese literature, both contemporary and classical. She lived in Japan for twenty years and currently lives in Braidwood, New South Wales.

Klappentext

The classic portrayal of court life in tenth-century Japan

Written by the court gentlewoman Sei Shonagon, ostensibly for her own amusement, The Pillow Book offers a fascinating exploration of life among the nobility at the height of the Heian period, describing the exquisite pleasures of a confined world in which poetry, love, fashion, and whim dominated, while harsh reality was kept firmly at a distance. Moving elegantly across a wide range of themes including nature, society, and her own flirtations, Sei Shonagon provides a witty and intimate window on a woman's life at court in classical Japan.

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.

Zusammenfassung

'A mistress of wry observation and scalding wit ... The Pillow Book retains its fresh, authentic appeal more than 1,000 years after its inception' Japan Times

Written by the court gentlewoman Sei Shonagon as a journal for her own amusement, The Pillow Book is one of the greatest works of Japanese literature. A fascinating exploration of life amongst the nobility at the height of the idyllic Heian period, it describes the exquisite pleasures of a confined world in which poetry, love, fashion and whim dominated. From brief reflections to longer, lyrical tales, Shonagon moves elegantly across themes including nature, society and her own flirtations and frustrations, to provide a witty, unique insight into a woman's life at court in classical Japan.

Translated with an introduction by Meredith McKinney