Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Gossamer Years: Love, Passion and Marriage in Old Japan - The Intimate Diary of a Female Courtier

Gossamer Years: Love, Passion and Marriage in Old Japan - The Intimate Diary of a Female Courtier

Washburne, Dennis
Seidensticker, Edward G.

Paperback

Biographies GeneralLiterary FiguresFiction Anthologies

Publisher Price: $14.99

ISBN10: 4805316861
ISBN13: 9784805316863
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: May 10 2022
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.55
Height: 0.87 Width: 5.12 Depth: 7.95
Language: English
A self-portrait devastating in its honesty...written passionately and without a thought to how readers might judge her actions.--Donald Keene

Gossamer Years is a remarkably frank diary written by an unnamed noblewoman in Tenth-century Japan--the same period as Murasaki Shikibu's celebrated Tale of Genji. In her diary, the author describes her tempestuous and unhappy marriage and growing indignation at the many rival wives and mistresses taken by her husband, as was commonplace at the time. Too impetuous to play the role of a subsidiary wife, the author protests the marriage system in one of Japanese literature's earliest portrayals of the difficulties faced by women in a male-dominated society.

Skillfully translated by Edward Seidensticker, a preeminent scholar of Japanese literature, this book represents an extraordinary flowering of realistic expression in ancient Japan and an attempt, unique for its age, to treat the human condition with frankness and honesty.

A new introduction by Japanese literary scholar Dennis Washburn provides valuable insights into the author's world and examines the book's lasting importance. With dozens of beautiful images illustrating court life in the Heian period, Gossamer Years is a timeless and intimate glimpse into married life and social mores in traditional Japan.

1 different editions

Also available

Also from

Seidensticker, Edward G.

View All

Also in

Literary Figures

View All