The Life of an Amorous Woman and Other Writings (UNESCO Collection of Representative Literary Works) - Softcover

Ihara Saikaku

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811201872 ISBN 13: 9780811201872

Publisher: New Directions, 1969

Synopsis

“The fine style of writing and the clear outlines of illustration, which are not even remotely ‘suggestive’ give Saikaku’s pornography grace and wit and charity.” ―James Kirkup

One of the great fiction writers of Japan, Ihara Saikaku (1623-93) wrote of the lowest class in the Tokugawa world―the townsmen who were rising in wealth and power but not in official status. The title story in this collection of 12 works, told by an again beauty whose highly erotic nature is her constant undoing, ranges over all of 17th century Japanese life. The narrator is successively wife, court lady, courtesan, priest’s concubine, mistress of a feudal lord and streetwalker. Ivan Morris, chairman of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures of Columbia University has done a brilliant translation, an introduction, extensive notes, bibliography and two essays on social customs of the period.

About this title

About the Author:

Ivan Ira Esme Morris (b. 1925 – d. 1976) was a British author, translator, editor, and teacher in the field of Japanese Studies.

Ivan Ira Esme Morris (b. 1925 – d. 1976) was a British author, translator, editor, and teacher in the field of Japanese Studies.

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 1969
• ISBN 10: 0811201872
• ISBN 13: 9780811201872
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 403