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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 reader's
edition streamlines Sonja Arntzen and Moriyuki Ito'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 author's deep concern for Buddhist belief
and practice and the juxtaposition of poetic passages and narrative
prose. The translators' commentary offers insight into the author's
family and world, as well as the style, structure, and textual
history of her work.
A thousand years ago, a young Japanese girl embarked on a journey
from the wild East Country to the capital. She began a diary that
she would continue to write for the next forty years and compile
later in life, bringing lasting prestige to her family. Some
aspects of the author's life and text seem curiously modern. She
married at age thirty-three and identified herself as a reader and
writer more than as a wife and mother. Enthralled by romantic
fiction, she wrote extensively about the disillusioning blows that
reality can deal to fantasy. The Sarashina Diary is a portrait of
the writer as reader and an exploration of the power of reading to
shape one's expectations and aspirations. As a person and an
author, this writer presages the medieval era in Japan with her
deep concern for Buddhist belief and practice. Her narrative's main
thread follows a trajectory from youthful infatuation with romantic
fantasy to the disillusionment of age and concern for the
afterlife; yet, at the same time, many passages erase the dichotomy
between literary illusion and spiritual truth. This new translation
captures the lyrical richness of the original text while revealing
its subtle structure and ironic meaning. The introduction
highlights the poetry in the Sarashina Diary and the juxtaposition
of poetic passages and narrative prose, which brings meta-meanings
into play. The translators' commentary offers insight into the
author's family and world, as well as the fascinating textual
legacy of her work.
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 reader's
edition streamlines Sonja Arntzen and Moriyuki Ito'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 author's deep concern for Buddhist belief
and practice and the juxtaposition of poetic passages and narrative
prose. The translators' commentary offers insight into the author's
family and world, as well as the style, structure, and textual
history of her work.
Japan is the only country in the world where it was primarily the
works of women writers that laid the foundation for the classical
literary tradition. The Kagero Diary is the first extant work of
that rich and brilliant tradition. The author was a member of the
middle-ranking aristocracy of the Heian. period (794-1185) and her
autobiographical text gives readers access to a woman's experience
of a thousand years ago
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