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The Life of an Amorous Woman and Other Writings
“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.
403 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1686
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About the author
Saikaku Ihara
103 books61 followersSaikaku Ihara (井原 西鶴) was a Japanese poet and creator of the "floating world" genre of Japanese prose (ukiyo-zōshi).
Born the son of the wealthy merchant Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五) in Osaka, he first studied haikai poetry under Matsunaga Teitoku, and later studied under Nishiyama Sōin of the Danrin School of poetry, which emphasized comic linked verse. Scholars have described numerous extraordinary feats of solo haikai composition at one sitting; most famously, over the course of a single day and night in 1677, Saikaku is reported to have composed at least 16,000 haikai stanzas, with some rumors placing the number at over 23,500 stanzas.
Later in life he began writing racy accounts of the financial and amorous affairs of the merchant class and the demimonde. These stories catered to the whims of the newly prominent merchant class, whose tastes of entertainment leaned toward the arts and pleasure districts.
Born the son of the wealthy merchant Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五) in Osaka, he first studied haikai poetry under Matsunaga Teitoku, and later studied under Nishiyama Sōin of the Danrin School of poetry, which emphasized comic linked verse. Scholars have described numerous extraordinary feats of solo haikai composition at one sitting; most famously, over the course of a single day and night in 1677, Saikaku is reported to have composed at least 16,000 haikai stanzas, with some rumors placing the number at over 23,500 stanzas.
Later in life he began writing racy accounts of the financial and amorous affairs of the merchant class and the demimonde. These stories catered to the whims of the newly prominent merchant class, whose tastes of entertainment leaned toward the arts and pleasure districts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
July 8, 2018
siêu hài má ơi =)))
February 8, 2021
Es un libro del siglo XVII y con la novela de Genji es una de las grandes obras de la literatura japonesa clásica sobre amores, cortesanas y el mundo flotante. Reconozco que hasta que no llevaba cierto rato ni siquiera me di cuenta de que era un libro de hace más de 300 años porque me parecía francamente contemporáneo y cercano. No voy a quedar de lista o de conocedora, elegí este libro en la biblioteca porque siempre quiero leer más sobre obras de todo el mundo y me parecía interesante la visión femenina. No fue hasta bastante después que me enteré de la fecha de publicación de la obra y su relevancia.
Una vez terminado, como me pasó con Genji, creo que es una obra que DEBE ser leída. Es un libro francamente interesante, real, duro, jodido. No solo habla de la vida de las prostitutas y los diferentes destinos que pueden tener, sino que ahonda en la tradición, en los tabúes, en la mente humana, los bajos fondos, miserias, problemas... desde un personaje femenino con el que no puedes evitar empatizar. Me ha parecido una lectura ágil a la par que contundente y sinceramente creo que debería ser bastante más conocido de lo que es.
Una vez terminado, como me pasó con Genji, creo que es una obra que DEBE ser leída. Es un libro francamente interesante, real, duro, jodido. No solo habla de la vida de las prostitutas y los diferentes destinos que pueden tener, sino que ahonda en la tradición, en los tabúes, en la mente humana, los bajos fondos, miserias, problemas... desde un personaje femenino con el que no puedes evitar empatizar. Me ha parecido una lectura ágil a la par que contundente y sinceramente creo que debería ser bastante más conocido de lo que es.
March 19, 2025
mental health on its way back again; starting to get back into the posting groove, FINALLY!
full post is here:
https://www.readingavidly.com/2025/03...
There are several different works encompassed in this volume, and the main reason I picked up this book was because I had decided one day not too long ago that I wanted to watch a movie on the Criterion Channel called The Life of Oharu (1952), and as I started doing a bit of pre-viewing research, I discovered that it was adapted from one of the stories in this book. Next step: I bought a copy. While I actually read all of the pieces included here, my main focus was the story that Saikaku wrote as Kōshoku Ichidai Onna (1686), or as the title is translated, Life of an Amorous Woman.
In this story of a woman who started out life in a privileged position only to have it all taken away from her, leaving her to end up as a street prostitute before becoming a Buddhist nun, the author examines the transient nature of fortune, the rigidity of social structures and a society that both profits from and punishes women's sexuality. The irony runs deep throughout this episodic tale, and while the author offers his readers humor and wit, there is a true sadness at its core that makes this woman's story even more poignant. There are times, however, that it is entirely cringeworthy; for instance, at the Imperial court, our narrator is only ten when she begins to discover her own sexual feelings and twelve when she loses her virginity, and there are other descriptions of the same sort of thing here and there that made for difficult reading. When all is said and done however, I couldn't put the book down, although someone should do a newer translation because this one is incomplete, with only fourteen stories selected from Kōshoku Ichidai Onna presented here. Evidently at the time, the reasoning was that the "translator's aim" was evidently to provide a sort of "wide view" of Saikaku's writing and to offer a "better idea of his scope than would the translation of a single work." Aarrgh.
recommended, both book and film. The other stories are well worth the read too.
full post is here:
https://www.readingavidly.com/2025/03...
There are several different works encompassed in this volume, and the main reason I picked up this book was because I had decided one day not too long ago that I wanted to watch a movie on the Criterion Channel called The Life of Oharu (1952), and as I started doing a bit of pre-viewing research, I discovered that it was adapted from one of the stories in this book. Next step: I bought a copy. While I actually read all of the pieces included here, my main focus was the story that Saikaku wrote as Kōshoku Ichidai Onna (1686), or as the title is translated, Life of an Amorous Woman.
In this story of a woman who started out life in a privileged position only to have it all taken away from her, leaving her to end up as a street prostitute before becoming a Buddhist nun, the author examines the transient nature of fortune, the rigidity of social structures and a society that both profits from and punishes women's sexuality. The irony runs deep throughout this episodic tale, and while the author offers his readers humor and wit, there is a true sadness at its core that makes this woman's story even more poignant. There are times, however, that it is entirely cringeworthy; for instance, at the Imperial court, our narrator is only ten when she begins to discover her own sexual feelings and twelve when she loses her virginity, and there are other descriptions of the same sort of thing here and there that made for difficult reading. When all is said and done however, I couldn't put the book down, although someone should do a newer translation because this one is incomplete, with only fourteen stories selected from Kōshoku Ichidai Onna presented here. Evidently at the time, the reasoning was that the "translator's aim" was evidently to provide a sort of "wide view" of Saikaku's writing and to offer a "better idea of his scope than would the translation of a single work." Aarrgh.
recommended, both book and film. The other stories are well worth the read too.
September 16, 2017
Il declino "professionale" di una donna che da celebre cortigiana si riduce, negli ultimi anni della sua vita, a vendersi per strada per poi ritirarsi in un umile romitaggio.
Spacciato per un romanzo dove vengono narrate le gesta di questa donna impareggiabile, si tratta in realtà di una serie di racconti slegati fra loro che rendono poco interessante la lettura.
Stesso problema riscontrato nelle Storie di mercanti dove, non essendoci un vero filo conduttore, alla lunga i racconti diventano un po' noiosi e ripetitivi.
Sarà una mia personale antipatia verso i racconti, o le storie ad episodi, chissà.
Bella l'edizione ES arricchita dalle illustrazioni, un vero peccato però che le innumerevoli note, anzichè essere a piè pagina, rimandassero continuamente al fondo del libro spezzando così la lettura.
Spacciato per un romanzo dove vengono narrate le gesta di questa donna impareggiabile, si tratta in realtà di una serie di racconti slegati fra loro che rendono poco interessante la lettura.
Stesso problema riscontrato nelle Storie di mercanti dove, non essendoci un vero filo conduttore, alla lunga i racconti diventano un po' noiosi e ripetitivi.
Sarà una mia personale antipatia verso i racconti, o le storie ad episodi, chissà.
Bella l'edizione ES arricchita dalle illustrazioni, un vero peccato però che le innumerevoli note, anzichè essere a piè pagina, rimandassero continuamente al fondo del libro spezzando così la lettura.
November 7, 2020
Recensione completa qui: x
Questo peculiare romanzo fa parte di un filone della produzione di Ihara Saikaku- per l’altro estremamente prolifico non solo come autore di prosa ma anche come autore di poesia, di haikai - che va sotto il nome di kōshokumono. E all’interno di questo filone rientrano per esempio anche Cinque donne amorose o Vita di un libertino.
Kōshoku indica l’amore e la bellezza, e fa allusione sia alla bellezza delle cortigiane, la bellezza celebrata nei quartieri di piacere. Kōshoku rappresenta quindi uno degli elementi caratterizzanti la società e la vita anche culturale dell’epoca Tokugawa, e d’altro canto fa riferimento anche all’amore per la bellezza, ma amore inteso nelle sue connotazioni sessuali, la passione.
In realtà in senso più ampio la produzione in prosa di Ihara Saikaku rientra - o meglio dà origine - a quello che sarà poi un filone caratteristico di questo periodo, che è quello degli ukiyozōshi.
Ukiyo è un termine originariamente buddhista, che fa riferimento alla natura transeunte di tutte le cose di questo mondo, ma appunto a partire dall'opera Ukiyo monogatari Asai Ryōi in poi e in generale nell’atmosfera culturale dell’epoca Tokugawa passa invece a indicare proprio lo scorrere di tutte le cose del mondo abbinato all’esortazione a godere dei piaceri che la vita ci può offrire perché tutto passa, tutto scorre troppo velocemente.
La protagonista è la donna licenziosa del titolo - in giapponese Kōshoku ichidai onna - e il romanzo racconta in retrospettiva la sua vita. La incontriamo anziana all’inizio del testo e lei, che è stata una famosa e apprezzata prostituta nei quartieri di piacere dell’epoca, narra le sue avventure a due giovani che sono interessati a essere iniziati alla vita amorosa.
Il romanzo si configura come lungo flashback, un flashback che racconta la sua esperienza e il suo decadere da una condizione in qualche modo di privilegio, anche come apprezzata e ammirata cortigiana, fino ai gradini più bassi della prostituzione, fino alla solitudine e alla vecchiaia che la vedono mendicare agli angoli delle strade o accanto a templi e santuari. Quindi è un racconto che ci dà uno spaccato molto interessante di quella che è la vita anche dei quartieri di piacere dell’epoca, che rappresentano in realtà il cuore pulsante della vita e dell’edonismo delle città.
Clicca qui per guardare la recensione completa!
Questo peculiare romanzo fa parte di un filone della produzione di Ihara Saikaku- per l’altro estremamente prolifico non solo come autore di prosa ma anche come autore di poesia, di haikai - che va sotto il nome di kōshokumono. E all’interno di questo filone rientrano per esempio anche Cinque donne amorose o Vita di un libertino.
Kōshoku indica l’amore e la bellezza, e fa allusione sia alla bellezza delle cortigiane, la bellezza celebrata nei quartieri di piacere. Kōshoku rappresenta quindi uno degli elementi caratterizzanti la società e la vita anche culturale dell’epoca Tokugawa, e d’altro canto fa riferimento anche all’amore per la bellezza, ma amore inteso nelle sue connotazioni sessuali, la passione.
In realtà in senso più ampio la produzione in prosa di Ihara Saikaku rientra - o meglio dà origine - a quello che sarà poi un filone caratteristico di questo periodo, che è quello degli ukiyozōshi.
Ukiyo è un termine originariamente buddhista, che fa riferimento alla natura transeunte di tutte le cose di questo mondo, ma appunto a partire dall'opera Ukiyo monogatari Asai Ryōi in poi e in generale nell’atmosfera culturale dell’epoca Tokugawa passa invece a indicare proprio lo scorrere di tutte le cose del mondo abbinato all’esortazione a godere dei piaceri che la vita ci può offrire perché tutto passa, tutto scorre troppo velocemente.
La protagonista è la donna licenziosa del titolo - in giapponese Kōshoku ichidai onna - e il romanzo racconta in retrospettiva la sua vita. La incontriamo anziana all’inizio del testo e lei, che è stata una famosa e apprezzata prostituta nei quartieri di piacere dell’epoca, narra le sue avventure a due giovani che sono interessati a essere iniziati alla vita amorosa.
Il romanzo si configura come lungo flashback, un flashback che racconta la sua esperienza e il suo decadere da una condizione in qualche modo di privilegio, anche come apprezzata e ammirata cortigiana, fino ai gradini più bassi della prostituzione, fino alla solitudine e alla vecchiaia che la vedono mendicare agli angoli delle strade o accanto a templi e santuari. Quindi è un racconto che ci dà uno spaccato molto interessante di quella che è la vita anche dei quartieri di piacere dell’epoca, che rappresentano in realtà il cuore pulsante della vita e dell’edonismo delle città.
Clicca qui per guardare la recensione completa!
July 26, 2021
Without context, this is not such a great work of literature. It is basically a collection of short stories showing that pursuing your romantic/sexual interest will get you into real trouble. On a positive note, it is written in a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek tone, on a negative note, it does get repetitive.
However, it is the context of 17th century Japan that brings great interest. The translator notes and his introduction to the era are both very helpful. You will get a full dose of their sexual fantasies/sometimes realities, such as depraved Buddhist monks keeping their female sexual interests in dungeons under lock and key while their youthful male sexual interests run free in the shrine. Or, running away with your husband's clerk and some money and ending up crucified next to each other for it etc...you get the drift. There are very many precious social observations and comments between the lines.
And, writing from the internet age, no, this is not pornography
However, it is the context of 17th century Japan that brings great interest. The translator notes and his introduction to the era are both very helpful. You will get a full dose of their sexual fantasies/sometimes realities, such as depraved Buddhist monks keeping their female sexual interests in dungeons under lock and key while their youthful male sexual interests run free in the shrine. Or, running away with your husband's clerk and some money and ending up crucified next to each other for it etc...you get the drift. There are very many precious social observations and comments between the lines.
And, writing from the internet age, no, this is not pornography
November 22, 2015
"Al envejecer, su destio común será acabar con el cuerpo arruinado, abandonadas como un viejo par de zapatos inútil, sin llegar jamás a entender cuál ha sido la meta a la que se dirigían."
July 28, 2013
LIBERTINES AND SEXUAL EXCESS IN WORLD LITERATURE--SAIKAKU'S "LIFE OF A SENSUOUS WOMAN," "THE LOVE POEMS OF THE SIXTH DALAI LAMA," "DON JUAN," THE EARL OF ROCHESTER AND THE MARQUIS DE SADE-----FROM THE WORLD LITERATURE FORUM RECOMMENDED CLASSICS AND MASTERPIECES SERIES VIA GOODREADS—-ROBERT SHEPPARD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The word "libertine' entered the English language not as a sexual term but as a by-product of the wars of religion between Protestants and Catholics in Sixteenth Century Europe, being the name of a French Protestant sect that believed individuals should be guided in religious matters "by their own lights"----meaning reason, direct divine inspiration, spiritual intuition, or personal free interpretation of holy scripture, rather than by the clergy or traditional dogma. Later the word became synonymous with freethinkers whose behaviour, foremost sexual, is unconstrained by social norms or ethical considerations, even to the point of "outraging public morality." Nevertheless the history of the term underlines its concern not simply with sexual deviance or excess, but with the ideal of freedom and self-determination, even against the pressure of public hostility or condemnation. It also raises the deeper question of how absolute personal freedom may be once released from political tyranny, religious dogma or blind social prejudice, and when liberty may degenerate into a license heedless of the needs, benefits or rights of others.
Not only in Europe but across Asia to Japan from the Sixteenth to Eighteenth centuries did sexual and social libertinage flourish, a generalized cultural drive towards breaking out of the bondage of traditional authority of all kinds, driven by the global rise of urban culture and the merchant class. Nevertheless, especially in those early days freedom was more a luxury than a right, and characteristically any true measure of individual freedom was enjoyed almost exclusively by the aristocracy or merchant elite, rather than the majority of the population constituting the lower classes, and the libertine was most likely a freethinking wealthy aristocratic male in an Asian or European city.
THE "FLOATING WORLD" OF IHARA SAIKAKU AND "THE LIFE OF A SENSUOUS WOMAN"
Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693) the author of "The Life of a Sensuous Woman" was a Japanese poet and creator of the "floating world" genre of Japanese prose (ukiyo-zōshi). Later in life he began writing racy accounts of the financial, amorous and erotic affairs of the merchant class and the demimonde. These stories catered to the whims of the newly prominent merchant class alongside the declassé aristocracy, whose tastes in entertainment leaned toward the arts and pleasure districts of the rising commercial cities such as his native Osaka.
"The Life of a Sensuous Woman," an atypicaly female narrative as a sequel to his prior "Life of a Sensuous Man," is an aging woman's extended confession to two young men in which she describes her various experiences, beginning from her early childhood as the daughter of a former aristocrat in the capital Kyoto, her life as an attendant in the Imperial Palace, then through a descending order of fates as a courtesan, geisha, teacher of courtly manners and calligraphy to young ladies, hairdresser, go-between for marital engagements, and finally as a common streetwalker, losing her beauty in aging into an unattractive old woman. It structurally echoes the genre of the Buddhist confessional narrative in which someone who becomes a priest or a nun recounts the sins of their past and their moment of crisis leading to spiritual awakening. Hdowever, in this case the old woman in her narrative is implicitly initiating her young visitors into the secrets of the "Way of Love," describing a life of vitality and sexual desire of which she does not essentially repent. En passant, she satirically reveals the underside of the lives of ministers and lords, powerful samurai, wealthy priests, and upper-class merchants. Often compared to Cleland's "Fanny Hill" the narrative also celebrates the female protagonist's pluck and resourcefulness in adversity, reminiscent of Becky Thatcher in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair." Only at the end of her life's narrative, in sight of the five-hundred statues of boddhisatvas arrayed in a Buddhist temple does she have a vision of the five hundred men with whom she has had sexual relations arrayed in their place, and is moved to commit the end of her life to spiritual enlightenment, not essentially renouncing, however, the fated vitality of her former life's path which had led her there, observing with a cautionary smile of spiritual melancholy to her departing two young initiates:
"A beautiful woman, many ages have agreed, is an axe that cuts down a man's life. No one, of course, escapes death. The invisible blossoms of the mind finally fall and scatter; the soul leaves; and the body is fed like kindling into a crematorium fire in the night. But for the blossoms to fall all too soon in a morning storm---ah, how foolish are the men who die young of overindulgence in the way of sensuous love. Yet there is no end of them."
THE SHORT EROTIC LIFE OF TSANGYANG GYATSO, THE SIXTH DALAI LAMA
In the Sixteenth Century, the Mongol Khan proclaimed the head of the leading Buddhist sect the "Dalai Lama," who enjoyed considerable secular power alongside the spiritual authority of his office. When one Dalai Lama died, a search was undertaken to find his newly reborn reincarnation, who would be raised in the Potala Palace by a Regent until coming of age to reign again as the Dalai Lama. After the the Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682, Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706) was proclaimed the new Dalai Lama, but the unscrupulous Regent schemed to keep him effectively under house arrest in the Palace, retaining all power to himself. In this unfortunate condition, deprived of his destiny, the Sixth Dalai Lama dedicated himself to three passions: the study of Buddhist Scriptures, the erotic worship of beautiful women, and the penning of love poems to his beautiful lovers. As he was a "Living Buddha" it was considered by the girls and their families a great and divine honor to be sexually united with the Dalai Lama, and when a girl residing in the elite Shol district of Lhasa below the Palace became a lover her family painted their house yellow, exalted beyond the common white, celebrating the act of divine favour. Gyatso was so successful in "painting the town red," although in this case yellow, that a scandal ultimately ensued in which the outside power of the Mongol Khan in the north united with the conservative priests to depose,exile and ultimately assassinate him, claiming that the son of the Mongol Khan was the true Sixth Dalai Lama in a coup d'etat. Nonetheless, the Sixth Dalai Lama left behind a rich body of erotic poetry dedicated to his lovers:
Residing at the Potala
I am Rigdzin Tsangyang Gyatso
But in the back alleys of Shol-town
I am rake and stud.
Lover met by chance on the road,
Girl with delicious-smelling body--
Like picking up a small white turquoise
Only to toss it away again.
If I could meditate as deeply
On the sacred texts as I do
On you, I would clearly be
Enlightened in this lifetime!
THE UNPURITAN LIFE AND VERSE OF JOHN WILMOT, EARL OF ROCHESTER
The Earl of Rochester (1647-1680) was unquestionably one of the "bad boys" of English letters. Born during the dour administration of Oliver Cromwell's Puritan Commonwealth, he came of age just in time for the Resotation of monarchy, sexual excess and extravagance, and his attitude in word and deed as to libertine sexuality was "cavalier" in the extreme. As his father had engineered Charles II's escape from England he became a favorite in the Restoration court, yet cavalierly endangered his status with such acts boxing the ears of high lords in the King's presence and delivering caustic diatribes against the king to his face in fits of anger, accusing the king of being more addicted to sexual excess than the good of the kingdom. Nonetheless, Charles II took a protective interest in Rochester, continuously bailing him out of scrapes and predicaments.
As related in Samuel Pepys' famous Diary, Rochester, who was poor, contrived to forcibly abduct the heiress of one of England's wealthiest families, who despite the King's encouragement, refused to consent to her marriage to Rochester because of his poverty and profligacy. The daughter nonetheless chose to elope with him and they were married. He was a notorious rake, had innumerable mistresses, including the finest actresses of London, and shared some mistresses with the king.
After a brawl between his gang of friends and the police in which a man died, Rochester in disgrace was forced into hiding, disguising himself as a "quack doctor" treating women for "barrenness" or infertility and other gynocological complaints, under the name of "Dr. Bendo." Rochester in this reputedly attained great success in inducing pregnancy in infertile wives, largely utilizing his own sperm, introduced willingly or surreptitiously. To overcome occasional hesitancy of the women's mothers or husbands to allow a male doctor to conduct the gynocological examination or treatment, Rochester dressed in drag to impersonate a fictive "Mrs. Bendo," the putative doctor's wife, who would conduct the examination and administer the treatment in lieu of the considerate doctor himself.
Rochester died at the age of 33 from a combination of syphillis, gonnorhea and alcoholic liver failure, reportedly wearing a false nose in lieu of the one lost to the disease. After his death several Puritan religious societies circulated an account of his deathbed repentence of his libertinage, the authenticity of which remains uncertain. Nevertheless, many of his forceful poems remain anthologized classics, such as "The Imperfect Enjoyment:"
Naked she lay, clasped in my longing arms,
I filled with love, and she all over charms;
Both equally inspired with eager fire,
Melting through kindness, flaming in desire.
With arms, legs, lips close clinging to embrace,
She clips me to her breast, and sucks me to her face;
Her nimble tongue, Love's lesser lightning, played
Within my mouth, and to my thoughts conveyed
Swift orders that I should prepare to throw
The all-dissolving thunderbolt below.
My fluttering soul, sprung with the pointed kiss,
Hangs hovering o'er her balmy brinks of bliss,
But whilst her busy hand would guide that part
Which should convey my soul up to her heart,
In liquid raptures I dissolve all o'er.
Melt into sperm, and spend at every pore.
A touch from any part of her had done 't:
Her hand, her foot, her very look's a cunt.
Smiling, she chides in a kind murmuring noise,
And from her body wipes the clammy joys,
When, with a thousand kisses wandering o'er
My panting bosom, "Is there then no more?"
She cries. "All this to love and rapture's due"
Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?"
LORD BYRON'S IMMORTAL CLASSIC "DON JUAN"
George Gordon, Lord Byron was celebrated in life for aristocratic excesses, including huge debts, numerous love affairs, a scandalous incestuous liaison with his half-sister, and self-imposed exile and European wanderings, culminating with his sponsorship of a military campaign to win Greek freedom from Ottoman oppression in which he fought and died. He was one of the greatest literary celebrities of Europe, and along with Wordsworth, Keats, Leopardi and Shelley one of the founding patriarchs of the Romantic Movement in Europe. He was regarded by his contemporaries as "mad, bad and dangerous to know." He became the exemplar of what came to be known as "The Byronic Hero" presented an idealised, but flawed character whose attributes include: great talent; great passion; a distaste for society and social institutions; a lack of respect for rank and privilege (although possessing both); being thwarted in love by social constraint or death; rebellion; exile; an unsavory secret past; arrogance; overconfidence or lack of foresight; and, ultimately, a self-destructive manner.
His classic epic of erotic love is "Don Juan" which ironically and satirically re-casts the famous serial lover whose name itself has become synonymous in the English language with libertinage, rather as a weak man who cannot resist the uncontrollable sexual agressions of women, than as a seducer himself. The epic follows the hero Don Juan from scandal-caused exile from his home in Spain through an unending series of amourous adventures including his rescue from shipwreck and seduction by the dark and beautiful island girl Haidée. The love of Haidée and Juan is however ill-fated as her father Lambro, a pirate master, discovers their affair, seizes and sells Juan as a slave to Constantinople, and Haidée dies of a broken heart with their unborn child within her womb. In Constantinople Don Juan is purchased by a black eunuch at the behest of the Sultana, who desires to make love to him. To smuggle him into the Sultan's Palace the eunuch forces Juan to dress as a woman, threatening him with castration if he refuses. Brought to the Sultana, he however refuses to make servile love to her, remembering his love for Haidée. Discovered by the Sultan, the Sultan himself is attracted to Juan dressed as a woman, who regrets the "she" is not a Muslim. Don Juan escapes, however, then joins the Russian armies attacking the Ottomans where he becomes a hero. He adopts a ten-year old Muslim girl orphaned in the war, Leila. Taken to the Russian Imperial Court as a war hero, he is seduced by the Empress, Catherine the Great, who becomes his lover until she sends him to England on a mission. There he is seduced by numerous lecherous Englishwomen until he begins to fall in love with Aurora, who reminds him of his lost love Haidée. We do not know how the epic ends, as Byron died before completing it.
THE ULTIMATE LIBERTINE BAD BOY, THE MARQUIS DE SADE
The Marquis de Sade, belying his reputation, was too much of a masochist for his own good. Time and again he proved himself too eager to be caught and punished for his sexual outrages, and the French government, whether of the ancien regime or of Revolutionary France was all too happy to oblige him. The errant aristocrat spent most of his life in jail writing furiously, or when at liberty, conceiving escapades of excess that would send him promptly back to incarceration. He served as an officer in the Seven Years' War, then married, then committed outrages in whorehouses or with abducted females and males, including flagellation, sodomy, and poisioning prostitutes that landed him in the Bastille. Liberated by the Revolution, he quickly offended again, at the cost of imprisonment and having all his property confiscated, leaving him penniless at the end of his life.
A philosopher of liberty in addition to a sexual libertine, in his classic "Philosophy in the Boudoir" he advocated the absolute freedom of the individual, even at the expense of the injury of others, claiming that such absolute liberty would strengthen and catalyze the growth of all individuals in creative equilibrium and produce much more good than ethical repression of even deviant expressions of freedom. "Nothing is a crime" he declared defiantly...."Laws are not made for the individual but for the generality, which is what puts them in perpetual conflict with self-interest, given that personal self-interest is always in conflict with society. Laws that are good for society are bad for the individuals that compose it, becuase for every time they actually protect or defend an individual, they obstruct or ensnare him for three-quarters of his life." He denied the bonds between children and parents, husband and wife, and advocated the reign of an absolute liberty in their stead. He called on the people to deny and overthrow both the state and the church: "The only gods should be courage and liberty" he declared. He dauntlessly championed the first of the three ideals of the French Revolution----liberty, taken absolutely, while ignoring the second two of the triumverate, equality and fraternity. Ironically, his philosophy is often more entertaining than his pornography. His pornographic classics such as "120 Days of Sodom" often become arid and mechanical exercizes in carnal repetition which soon lose interest after the initial prurience and shock value are dissipated.
SPIRITUS MUNDI, SEXUALITY AND SEXUAL LIBERTY
Sexuality and sexual liberty have a stong presence in my own work, the recently published contemporary epic Spiritus Mundi. I grew up as a writer very much in the tradition of D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce, both of whom embraced the central importance of sexuality in human consciousness and existence in their works and worldviews. We are all living intellectually in the wake of the Freudian and Darwinian revolutions, as well the “sexual revolution” in popular culture since the Sixties. Our sexuality is the life blood of our lives and of our consciousness, not to mention our unconsciousness, collective or individual. In my view of sexuality, common with D. H. Lawrence and C.G. Jung, sexuality is intimately connected with the spiritual dimension of human existence as well---sexuality can lead to dehumanization and animalization of our beings but alternatively sexuality can also lead just as naturally in the direction of the humanization of our natural and biological impulses, their civilizing, and even to their spiritualization, as Jung observed.
In regard to sexuality I take as a starting point that it is a natural part of our lives and should be positively embraced in all dimensions of our existence---that it is a necessary and wholesome part of our individual and collective mental health. That is not to deny that it has its chaotic, selfish, destructive and socially disruptive side as well, which society has difficulty managing, which it always must, but it is important that it should not be irrationally repressed in the individual or the society at large, as Freud and Jung have taught us.
The sexual lives of the characters in fiction are a vital dimension of their beings, and a vital dimension for judging the viability, mental health and value of the worldviews of their authors. Hollywood and Washington have long judged their projects asking the question “Will it play in Peoria?” and writers similarly have tested their worldviews by asking “Will it play between the sheets?” In Spiritus Mundi sexuality is linked to the spiritual lives of the characters, but also to the “life force” which drives human evolution and the collective unconscious of the human race, necessary to its survival. The progressive humanization, civilization and spiritualization of our most primal sexual animal impulses in the forms of love, family, community and communion is the story of the progress of our individual lives in microcosm and of our civilizational lives in macrocosm.
For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:
For Discussions on World Literature and n Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: http://worldliteratureandliterarycrit...
Robert Sheppard
Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author’s Blog: http://robertalexandersheppard.wordpr...
Spiritus Mundi on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CIGJFGO
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGM8BZG
Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved
The word "libertine' entered the English language not as a sexual term but as a by-product of the wars of religion between Protestants and Catholics in Sixteenth Century Europe, being the name of a French Protestant sect that believed individuals should be guided in religious matters "by their own lights"----meaning reason, direct divine inspiration, spiritual intuition, or personal free interpretation of holy scripture, rather than by the clergy or traditional dogma. Later the word became synonymous with freethinkers whose behaviour, foremost sexual, is unconstrained by social norms or ethical considerations, even to the point of "outraging public morality." Nevertheless the history of the term underlines its concern not simply with sexual deviance or excess, but with the ideal of freedom and self-determination, even against the pressure of public hostility or condemnation. It also raises the deeper question of how absolute personal freedom may be once released from political tyranny, religious dogma or blind social prejudice, and when liberty may degenerate into a license heedless of the needs, benefits or rights of others.
Not only in Europe but across Asia to Japan from the Sixteenth to Eighteenth centuries did sexual and social libertinage flourish, a generalized cultural drive towards breaking out of the bondage of traditional authority of all kinds, driven by the global rise of urban culture and the merchant class. Nevertheless, especially in those early days freedom was more a luxury than a right, and characteristically any true measure of individual freedom was enjoyed almost exclusively by the aristocracy or merchant elite, rather than the majority of the population constituting the lower classes, and the libertine was most likely a freethinking wealthy aristocratic male in an Asian or European city.
THE "FLOATING WORLD" OF IHARA SAIKAKU AND "THE LIFE OF A SENSUOUS WOMAN"
Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693) the author of "The Life of a Sensuous Woman" was a Japanese poet and creator of the "floating world" genre of Japanese prose (ukiyo-zōshi). Later in life he began writing racy accounts of the financial, amorous and erotic affairs of the merchant class and the demimonde. These stories catered to the whims of the newly prominent merchant class alongside the declassé aristocracy, whose tastes in entertainment leaned toward the arts and pleasure districts of the rising commercial cities such as his native Osaka.
"The Life of a Sensuous Woman," an atypicaly female narrative as a sequel to his prior "Life of a Sensuous Man," is an aging woman's extended confession to two young men in which she describes her various experiences, beginning from her early childhood as the daughter of a former aristocrat in the capital Kyoto, her life as an attendant in the Imperial Palace, then through a descending order of fates as a courtesan, geisha, teacher of courtly manners and calligraphy to young ladies, hairdresser, go-between for marital engagements, and finally as a common streetwalker, losing her beauty in aging into an unattractive old woman. It structurally echoes the genre of the Buddhist confessional narrative in which someone who becomes a priest or a nun recounts the sins of their past and their moment of crisis leading to spiritual awakening. Hdowever, in this case the old woman in her narrative is implicitly initiating her young visitors into the secrets of the "Way of Love," describing a life of vitality and sexual desire of which she does not essentially repent. En passant, she satirically reveals the underside of the lives of ministers and lords, powerful samurai, wealthy priests, and upper-class merchants. Often compared to Cleland's "Fanny Hill" the narrative also celebrates the female protagonist's pluck and resourcefulness in adversity, reminiscent of Becky Thatcher in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair." Only at the end of her life's narrative, in sight of the five-hundred statues of boddhisatvas arrayed in a Buddhist temple does she have a vision of the five hundred men with whom she has had sexual relations arrayed in their place, and is moved to commit the end of her life to spiritual enlightenment, not essentially renouncing, however, the fated vitality of her former life's path which had led her there, observing with a cautionary smile of spiritual melancholy to her departing two young initiates:
"A beautiful woman, many ages have agreed, is an axe that cuts down a man's life. No one, of course, escapes death. The invisible blossoms of the mind finally fall and scatter; the soul leaves; and the body is fed like kindling into a crematorium fire in the night. But for the blossoms to fall all too soon in a morning storm---ah, how foolish are the men who die young of overindulgence in the way of sensuous love. Yet there is no end of them."
THE SHORT EROTIC LIFE OF TSANGYANG GYATSO, THE SIXTH DALAI LAMA
In the Sixteenth Century, the Mongol Khan proclaimed the head of the leading Buddhist sect the "Dalai Lama," who enjoyed considerable secular power alongside the spiritual authority of his office. When one Dalai Lama died, a search was undertaken to find his newly reborn reincarnation, who would be raised in the Potala Palace by a Regent until coming of age to reign again as the Dalai Lama. After the the Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682, Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706) was proclaimed the new Dalai Lama, but the unscrupulous Regent schemed to keep him effectively under house arrest in the Palace, retaining all power to himself. In this unfortunate condition, deprived of his destiny, the Sixth Dalai Lama dedicated himself to three passions: the study of Buddhist Scriptures, the erotic worship of beautiful women, and the penning of love poems to his beautiful lovers. As he was a "Living Buddha" it was considered by the girls and their families a great and divine honor to be sexually united with the Dalai Lama, and when a girl residing in the elite Shol district of Lhasa below the Palace became a lover her family painted their house yellow, exalted beyond the common white, celebrating the act of divine favour. Gyatso was so successful in "painting the town red," although in this case yellow, that a scandal ultimately ensued in which the outside power of the Mongol Khan in the north united with the conservative priests to depose,exile and ultimately assassinate him, claiming that the son of the Mongol Khan was the true Sixth Dalai Lama in a coup d'etat. Nonetheless, the Sixth Dalai Lama left behind a rich body of erotic poetry dedicated to his lovers:
Residing at the Potala
I am Rigdzin Tsangyang Gyatso
But in the back alleys of Shol-town
I am rake and stud.
Lover met by chance on the road,
Girl with delicious-smelling body--
Like picking up a small white turquoise
Only to toss it away again.
If I could meditate as deeply
On the sacred texts as I do
On you, I would clearly be
Enlightened in this lifetime!
THE UNPURITAN LIFE AND VERSE OF JOHN WILMOT, EARL OF ROCHESTER
The Earl of Rochester (1647-1680) was unquestionably one of the "bad boys" of English letters. Born during the dour administration of Oliver Cromwell's Puritan Commonwealth, he came of age just in time for the Resotation of monarchy, sexual excess and extravagance, and his attitude in word and deed as to libertine sexuality was "cavalier" in the extreme. As his father had engineered Charles II's escape from England he became a favorite in the Restoration court, yet cavalierly endangered his status with such acts boxing the ears of high lords in the King's presence and delivering caustic diatribes against the king to his face in fits of anger, accusing the king of being more addicted to sexual excess than the good of the kingdom. Nonetheless, Charles II took a protective interest in Rochester, continuously bailing him out of scrapes and predicaments.
As related in Samuel Pepys' famous Diary, Rochester, who was poor, contrived to forcibly abduct the heiress of one of England's wealthiest families, who despite the King's encouragement, refused to consent to her marriage to Rochester because of his poverty and profligacy. The daughter nonetheless chose to elope with him and they were married. He was a notorious rake, had innumerable mistresses, including the finest actresses of London, and shared some mistresses with the king.
After a brawl between his gang of friends and the police in which a man died, Rochester in disgrace was forced into hiding, disguising himself as a "quack doctor" treating women for "barrenness" or infertility and other gynocological complaints, under the name of "Dr. Bendo." Rochester in this reputedly attained great success in inducing pregnancy in infertile wives, largely utilizing his own sperm, introduced willingly or surreptitiously. To overcome occasional hesitancy of the women's mothers or husbands to allow a male doctor to conduct the gynocological examination or treatment, Rochester dressed in drag to impersonate a fictive "Mrs. Bendo," the putative doctor's wife, who would conduct the examination and administer the treatment in lieu of the considerate doctor himself.
Rochester died at the age of 33 from a combination of syphillis, gonnorhea and alcoholic liver failure, reportedly wearing a false nose in lieu of the one lost to the disease. After his death several Puritan religious societies circulated an account of his deathbed repentence of his libertinage, the authenticity of which remains uncertain. Nevertheless, many of his forceful poems remain anthologized classics, such as "The Imperfect Enjoyment:"
Naked she lay, clasped in my longing arms,
I filled with love, and she all over charms;
Both equally inspired with eager fire,
Melting through kindness, flaming in desire.
With arms, legs, lips close clinging to embrace,
She clips me to her breast, and sucks me to her face;
Her nimble tongue, Love's lesser lightning, played
Within my mouth, and to my thoughts conveyed
Swift orders that I should prepare to throw
The all-dissolving thunderbolt below.
My fluttering soul, sprung with the pointed kiss,
Hangs hovering o'er her balmy brinks of bliss,
But whilst her busy hand would guide that part
Which should convey my soul up to her heart,
In liquid raptures I dissolve all o'er.
Melt into sperm, and spend at every pore.
A touch from any part of her had done 't:
Her hand, her foot, her very look's a cunt.
Smiling, she chides in a kind murmuring noise,
And from her body wipes the clammy joys,
When, with a thousand kisses wandering o'er
My panting bosom, "Is there then no more?"
She cries. "All this to love and rapture's due"
Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?"
LORD BYRON'S IMMORTAL CLASSIC "DON JUAN"
George Gordon, Lord Byron was celebrated in life for aristocratic excesses, including huge debts, numerous love affairs, a scandalous incestuous liaison with his half-sister, and self-imposed exile and European wanderings, culminating with his sponsorship of a military campaign to win Greek freedom from Ottoman oppression in which he fought and died. He was one of the greatest literary celebrities of Europe, and along with Wordsworth, Keats, Leopardi and Shelley one of the founding patriarchs of the Romantic Movement in Europe. He was regarded by his contemporaries as "mad, bad and dangerous to know." He became the exemplar of what came to be known as "The Byronic Hero" presented an idealised, but flawed character whose attributes include: great talent; great passion; a distaste for society and social institutions; a lack of respect for rank and privilege (although possessing both); being thwarted in love by social constraint or death; rebellion; exile; an unsavory secret past; arrogance; overconfidence or lack of foresight; and, ultimately, a self-destructive manner.
His classic epic of erotic love is "Don Juan" which ironically and satirically re-casts the famous serial lover whose name itself has become synonymous in the English language with libertinage, rather as a weak man who cannot resist the uncontrollable sexual agressions of women, than as a seducer himself. The epic follows the hero Don Juan from scandal-caused exile from his home in Spain through an unending series of amourous adventures including his rescue from shipwreck and seduction by the dark and beautiful island girl Haidée. The love of Haidée and Juan is however ill-fated as her father Lambro, a pirate master, discovers their affair, seizes and sells Juan as a slave to Constantinople, and Haidée dies of a broken heart with their unborn child within her womb. In Constantinople Don Juan is purchased by a black eunuch at the behest of the Sultana, who desires to make love to him. To smuggle him into the Sultan's Palace the eunuch forces Juan to dress as a woman, threatening him with castration if he refuses. Brought to the Sultana, he however refuses to make servile love to her, remembering his love for Haidée. Discovered by the Sultan, the Sultan himself is attracted to Juan dressed as a woman, who regrets the "she" is not a Muslim. Don Juan escapes, however, then joins the Russian armies attacking the Ottomans where he becomes a hero. He adopts a ten-year old Muslim girl orphaned in the war, Leila. Taken to the Russian Imperial Court as a war hero, he is seduced by the Empress, Catherine the Great, who becomes his lover until she sends him to England on a mission. There he is seduced by numerous lecherous Englishwomen until he begins to fall in love with Aurora, who reminds him of his lost love Haidée. We do not know how the epic ends, as Byron died before completing it.
THE ULTIMATE LIBERTINE BAD BOY, THE MARQUIS DE SADE
The Marquis de Sade, belying his reputation, was too much of a masochist for his own good. Time and again he proved himself too eager to be caught and punished for his sexual outrages, and the French government, whether of the ancien regime or of Revolutionary France was all too happy to oblige him. The errant aristocrat spent most of his life in jail writing furiously, or when at liberty, conceiving escapades of excess that would send him promptly back to incarceration. He served as an officer in the Seven Years' War, then married, then committed outrages in whorehouses or with abducted females and males, including flagellation, sodomy, and poisioning prostitutes that landed him in the Bastille. Liberated by the Revolution, he quickly offended again, at the cost of imprisonment and having all his property confiscated, leaving him penniless at the end of his life.
A philosopher of liberty in addition to a sexual libertine, in his classic "Philosophy in the Boudoir" he advocated the absolute freedom of the individual, even at the expense of the injury of others, claiming that such absolute liberty would strengthen and catalyze the growth of all individuals in creative equilibrium and produce much more good than ethical repression of even deviant expressions of freedom. "Nothing is a crime" he declared defiantly...."Laws are not made for the individual but for the generality, which is what puts them in perpetual conflict with self-interest, given that personal self-interest is always in conflict with society. Laws that are good for society are bad for the individuals that compose it, becuase for every time they actually protect or defend an individual, they obstruct or ensnare him for three-quarters of his life." He denied the bonds between children and parents, husband and wife, and advocated the reign of an absolute liberty in their stead. He called on the people to deny and overthrow both the state and the church: "The only gods should be courage and liberty" he declared. He dauntlessly championed the first of the three ideals of the French Revolution----liberty, taken absolutely, while ignoring the second two of the triumverate, equality and fraternity. Ironically, his philosophy is often more entertaining than his pornography. His pornographic classics such as "120 Days of Sodom" often become arid and mechanical exercizes in carnal repetition which soon lose interest after the initial prurience and shock value are dissipated.
SPIRITUS MUNDI, SEXUALITY AND SEXUAL LIBERTY
Sexuality and sexual liberty have a stong presence in my own work, the recently published contemporary epic Spiritus Mundi. I grew up as a writer very much in the tradition of D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce, both of whom embraced the central importance of sexuality in human consciousness and existence in their works and worldviews. We are all living intellectually in the wake of the Freudian and Darwinian revolutions, as well the “sexual revolution” in popular culture since the Sixties. Our sexuality is the life blood of our lives and of our consciousness, not to mention our unconsciousness, collective or individual. In my view of sexuality, common with D. H. Lawrence and C.G. Jung, sexuality is intimately connected with the spiritual dimension of human existence as well---sexuality can lead to dehumanization and animalization of our beings but alternatively sexuality can also lead just as naturally in the direction of the humanization of our natural and biological impulses, their civilizing, and even to their spiritualization, as Jung observed.
In regard to sexuality I take as a starting point that it is a natural part of our lives and should be positively embraced in all dimensions of our existence---that it is a necessary and wholesome part of our individual and collective mental health. That is not to deny that it has its chaotic, selfish, destructive and socially disruptive side as well, which society has difficulty managing, which it always must, but it is important that it should not be irrationally repressed in the individual or the society at large, as Freud and Jung have taught us.
The sexual lives of the characters in fiction are a vital dimension of their beings, and a vital dimension for judging the viability, mental health and value of the worldviews of their authors. Hollywood and Washington have long judged their projects asking the question “Will it play in Peoria?” and writers similarly have tested their worldviews by asking “Will it play between the sheets?” In Spiritus Mundi sexuality is linked to the spiritual lives of the characters, but also to the “life force” which drives human evolution and the collective unconscious of the human race, necessary to its survival. The progressive humanization, civilization and spiritualization of our most primal sexual animal impulses in the forms of love, family, community and communion is the story of the progress of our individual lives in microcosm and of our civilizational lives in macrocosm.
For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:
For Discussions on World Literature and n Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: http://worldliteratureandliterarycrit...
Robert Sheppard
Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author’s Blog: http://robertalexandersheppard.wordpr...
Spiritus Mundi on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CIGJFGO
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGM8BZG
Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved
June 12, 2025
Un romanzo composto da tanti piccoli racconti (in parte sconnessi) - un classico del periodo Edo.
Una delle ultime letture universitarie, finalmente leggo Saikaku Ihara. Purtroppo mi trovo a dire ciò che ho ripeto già diverse volte: dubito che qualcuno che non sia già interessato nella letteratura giapponese classica possa apprezzare a pieno questo libro.
Detto ciò, per quanto a tratti la narrazione appare sconnessa (a volte sembra che tra un capitolo e l'altro non ci sia un vero nesso logico) il libro non soltanto rappresenta in quadro abbastanza dettagliato della società Giapponese del periodo Edo, ma riesce a far il tutto con una sfilza di umorismo che, seppur in parte molto datato, comunque riuscirà a strappare un sorriso.
Il libro tratta di una vecchia donna che, sotto richiesta di due giovani signori, spiati da un terzo (che non posso chiamare io narrante, dato che tutto il libro è essenzialmente un enorme flashback) racconta la sua lunga vita costernata da passioni amorose. Il libro come già detto è essenzialmente un raccolta di piccoli avvenimenti: partendo come dama di corte, la nostra protagonista senza nome va da lavoro a lavoro cadendo in una spirale di continua rovina data la sua travolgente passione amorosa . Ci tengo ad aggiungere che nonostante il tema del libro, un po' come anche succede nel Genji non vi è nessuna descrizione esplicita degli atti, è tutto sottinteso.
Devo ammettere che in parte leggere la continua e ripetuta decadenza di questa povera donna mi ha fatto abbastanza pena... anche se la narrazione tratta il tutto in chiave umoristica. Degni di nota sono dei passaggi abbastanza ''inquietanti'' tipici di una racconto del terrore: non voglio fare spoiler, ma sono state delle deviazioni ben gradite, seppur inaspettate.
Ribadisco ciò che ho detto all'inizio della mia recensione: purtroppo chi non è strettamente interessato alla lettura giapponese classica, non penso potrà trovare un gran piacere nel leggere questo libro; e nel caso vogliate comunque provare, vi ricordo che il libro è stato originariamente scritto per la classe samurai/mercantile - un pubblico di soli uomini (tradotto, aspettatevi molto sessismo, cosa molto comunque nella letteratura giapponese, ma ancor più presente qua, essendo la protagonista una donna licenziosa )
Voto finale: 3.75
Una delle ultime letture universitarie, finalmente leggo Saikaku Ihara. Purtroppo mi trovo a dire ciò che ho ripeto già diverse volte: dubito che qualcuno che non sia già interessato nella letteratura giapponese classica possa apprezzare a pieno questo libro.
Detto ciò, per quanto a tratti la narrazione appare sconnessa (a volte sembra che tra un capitolo e l'altro non ci sia un vero nesso logico) il libro non soltanto rappresenta in quadro abbastanza dettagliato della società Giapponese del periodo Edo, ma riesce a far il tutto con una sfilza di umorismo che, seppur in parte molto datato, comunque riuscirà a strappare un sorriso.
Il libro tratta di una vecchia donna che, sotto richiesta di due giovani signori, spiati da un terzo (che non posso chiamare io narrante, dato che tutto il libro è essenzialmente un enorme flashback) racconta la sua lunga vita costernata da passioni amorose. Il libro come già detto è essenzialmente un raccolta di piccoli avvenimenti: partendo come dama di corte, la nostra protagonista senza nome va da lavoro a lavoro cadendo in una spirale di continua rovina data la sua travolgente passione amorosa . Ci tengo ad aggiungere che nonostante il tema del libro, un po' come anche succede nel Genji non vi è nessuna descrizione esplicita degli atti, è tutto sottinteso.
Devo ammettere che in parte leggere la continua e ripetuta decadenza di questa povera donna mi ha fatto abbastanza pena... anche se la narrazione tratta il tutto in chiave umoristica. Degni di nota sono dei passaggi abbastanza ''inquietanti'' tipici di una racconto del terrore: non voglio fare spoiler, ma sono state delle deviazioni ben gradite, seppur inaspettate.
Ribadisco ciò che ho detto all'inizio della mia recensione: purtroppo chi non è strettamente interessato alla lettura giapponese classica, non penso potrà trovare un gran piacere nel leggere questo libro; e nel caso vogliate comunque provare, vi ricordo che il libro è stato originariamente scritto per la classe samurai/mercantile - un pubblico di soli uomini (tradotto, aspettatevi molto sessismo, cosa molto comunque nella letteratura giapponese, ma ancor più presente qua, essendo la protagonista una donna licenziosa )
Voto finale: 3.75
October 25, 2019
Thế kỷ XX, văn đàn Nhật Bản bừng sáng sáng bởi Tanizaki Junichiro với những cuốn tiểu thuyết đầy tính dục, về sự khai phóng con người khỏi những nề luật, bởi sự đủ đầy của đời sống hậu Minh Trị đã cho phép con người ta phiêu lưu hơn nữa trong tình ái và tìm hiểu sâu hơn về cái tôi và cả cái con trong lòng người.
Say mê đọc nó, hứng thú cuốn theo ý tưởng của nó, để rồi ta muốn tìm kiếm sâu hơn về nó. Phải chăng là đó một hiện tượng văn học nhất thời, hay phản ánh tư duy của một thời đại; sự kết tinh của văn học phương Tây thai nghén trong lòng Nhật Bản, hay là sự kế thừa có ý thức những nền tảng khai phóng từ trước đó.
Và từ đó ta tìm hiểu, ta mâm mê trên tay những câu văn đầy sắc dục của Saikaku từ thế kỷ XVII, những câu văn phóng khoáng về đời một người du nữ, những con chữ phản ánh con người cá biệt trong cái thời đại cá biệt, mà hơi thở của nó làm ta bàng hoàng như thể mới đây thôi trong cái thời đại nhiễu nhương này.
***
Du nữ, cái tên được đặt mới hay làm sao, mới đáng làm sao.
Nó vừa là sự đối nghịch tuyệt đối với những hình ảnh người phụ nữ đơn thuần quẩn quanh nơi góc nhà như trong Haru mà Lafcadio Hearn khắc họa, thờ chồng, chăm con. Nó cũng vừa phản ánh cuộc đời chìm nổi, phiêu bạt của người con gái làm nghề kỹ nữ.
Nàng có một cuộc đời ngắn ngủi, nhưng nàng lại chứa đựng vô số kiếp nhân sinh của nữ nhân phiêu bạt trong xã hội Nhật Bản trung đại. Để rồi, nàng đại diện cho vô số kiếp nhân sinh ấy viết lên bản tự thú, tự thú cho bản thân, và tự thú cho cả cái xã hội đang nhơ bẩn bởi sắc dục không từ bất cứ nơi đâu, cả Phật điện thiêng liêng nhất.
Một Nhật Bản trung cổ ẩn sau lớp áo giáp dày của nề luật và quy tắc khắc khe mà bất cứ ai phạm sai lầm đề phải đối mặt với cái chết... là một Nhật Bản nhơ nhớp với nề luật lỏng lẻo và vô tình, với những quy tắc mại dâm đã được đẩy lên mức chuyên nghiệp hóa và thành quy chuẩn, thứ bậc.
***
Gấp lại cuốn sách lòng mộng mị theo kiếp nhân sinh, đầu vang một câu hát vốn chìm trong ký ức từ lâu:
"Vui ân ái, biệt ly buồn
Si tình nhi nữ khởi nguồn bi hoan"
Chắc ở ngôi nhà bên đồi thông, gốc liễu, khóm trúc tàn và suối chảy kia, bên xứ sở hoa đào thắm đỏ, bên mùi hương sơ âm nơi Am Hiếu sắc, người du nữ có thể tìm về những phút yên bình, kể về cuộc đời của mình cho vô số con người khác.
Say mê đọc nó, hứng thú cuốn theo ý tưởng của nó, để rồi ta muốn tìm kiếm sâu hơn về nó. Phải chăng là đó một hiện tượng văn học nhất thời, hay phản ánh tư duy của một thời đại; sự kết tinh của văn học phương Tây thai nghén trong lòng Nhật Bản, hay là sự kế thừa có ý thức những nền tảng khai phóng từ trước đó.
Và từ đó ta tìm hiểu, ta mâm mê trên tay những câu văn đầy sắc dục của Saikaku từ thế kỷ XVII, những câu văn phóng khoáng về đời một người du nữ, những con chữ phản ánh con người cá biệt trong cái thời đại cá biệt, mà hơi thở của nó làm ta bàng hoàng như thể mới đây thôi trong cái thời đại nhiễu nhương này.
***
Du nữ, cái tên được đặt mới hay làm sao, mới đáng làm sao.
Nó vừa là sự đối nghịch tuyệt đối với những hình ảnh người phụ nữ đơn thuần quẩn quanh nơi góc nhà như trong Haru mà Lafcadio Hearn khắc họa, thờ chồng, chăm con. Nó cũng vừa phản ánh cuộc đời chìm nổi, phiêu bạt của người con gái làm nghề kỹ nữ.
Nàng có một cuộc đời ngắn ngủi, nhưng nàng lại chứa đựng vô số kiếp nhân sinh của nữ nhân phiêu bạt trong xã hội Nhật Bản trung đại. Để rồi, nàng đại diện cho vô số kiếp nhân sinh ấy viết lên bản tự thú, tự thú cho bản thân, và tự thú cho cả cái xã hội đang nhơ bẩn bởi sắc dục không từ bất cứ nơi đâu, cả Phật điện thiêng liêng nhất.
Một Nhật Bản trung cổ ẩn sau lớp áo giáp dày của nề luật và quy tắc khắc khe mà bất cứ ai phạm sai lầm đề phải đối mặt với cái chết... là một Nhật Bản nhơ nhớp với nề luật lỏng lẻo và vô tình, với những quy tắc mại dâm đã được đẩy lên mức chuyên nghiệp hóa và thành quy chuẩn, thứ bậc.
***
Gấp lại cuốn sách lòng mộng mị theo kiếp nhân sinh, đầu vang một câu hát vốn chìm trong ký ức từ lâu:
"Vui ân ái, biệt ly buồn
Si tình nhi nữ khởi nguồn bi hoan"
Chắc ở ngôi nhà bên đồi thông, gốc liễu, khóm trúc tàn và suối chảy kia, bên xứ sở hoa đào thắm đỏ, bên mùi hương sơ âm nơi Am Hiếu sắc, người du nữ có thể tìm về những phút yên bình, kể về cuộc đời của mình cho vô số con người khác.
October 8, 2013
Durante todo el relato de su vida estuve pensando que eventualmente aprendería de sus malas formas y tomaría otro camino, pero si lo hubiera hecho la historia no hubiera sido tan fascinante... Debes aprender a aceptarla como es para no sufrir con este libro...
May 15, 2020
pretty cool collection of stories written by Saikaku Ihara at a time when Japan was closed off from the rest of the world. the stories generally have a pretty light, comic tone that I really enjoyed, which is ironic since I bought this book for the title story because I watched and loved the movie The Tale of Oharu which if I remember correctly made me cry watching it on lunch at work. it's cool to see such a frank description of life in Japan at the time, not only from the high and mighty classes, but also from the point of view of prostitutes, untouchables, merchants, etc. i liked that this was so accessible too. of course there are a lot of elements to ihara's original prose that I miss (like what I might have gained reading it in Japanese, in his handwriting as it was produced and read at the time, with all of the pictures, all of the stories, and an understanding as to why detailing every friggin thing a person is wearing as part of their kimono) but compared to the tale of Genji, which yes was written waaaay before this, there were far fewer blatant allusions to China and obscure Chinese poetry, also the people are generally taken as people with flaws and needs as opposed to gods. I liked that the translator who I believe also tranlsated my version of Tale of Genji mentioned that modern readers are very quick to read some progressive meaning in to Ihara's work despite it being pretty unfounded that that was his intention. it really made me reflect on the value of reading old literature as a reimagining of present day reality and the morality that is seemingly wrapped up in it. We read into things. We make everything a mirror of ourselves. But also, how closely can we really get to the true intentions of an artistic work created hundreds of years ago, and in my case in a different country, language, economic system? I also thought it would be interesting to contrast amorous woman and his other book about an amorous man with Fanny Hill and Memoirs of a Coxcomb, which are similar in the sense that they are old books about people in prostitution, though the later books, despite having been written in Victorian England, are faaaaaaaar more explicit. Oh and also, I found it pretty surprising that gay sex was so acceptable at this time. I'm not sure about gay relationships but gay sex was pretty much accepted as much as men having sex with woman prostitutes was, both relegated to the pleasure district, though gay sex was also accepted in the monastery. Many of these stories however pair up sex and death very closely, like Mishima, and it would be interesting to pull in some sort of comparison or relationship between their eroticism. That being said, the sex in Mishima's books is definitely his own sexuality while I'm not really sure I can say anything about Ihara's at all, maybe even nothing on a personal level. Which is interesting considering I would say most modern Western literature is in some way an illustration of oneself.
July 19, 2013
«Mundo Flotante, término que, en el budismo, se refiere a lo efímero y fortuito de la existencia, y fue adoptado por la bohemia para referirse a un mundo sin asidero moral ni certezas.»
Este libro, cuya primera edición vio la luz hace más de trescientos años y fue impresa en madera, sirve para relatar con crudeza la vida sexual del Japón del siglo XVII. Sexualidad que abarcaba todas las clases sociales y que se ejercía libremente, mas no era libre de juicios morales. Es en ese sentido, un libro que contrasta la vida libertina con los asideros morales propios del Budismo de la época; el desenlace podría ser propaganda budista. No obstante, es este libro una joya de la literatura japonesa por su valor histórico y artístico. Cabe destacar la labor de investigación del traductor, quien mediante notas al pie nos aclara modismos, costumbres, modas, unidades de medición, cosmogonías y en términos generales nos sumerge en la cultura japonesa (tanto clásica como contemporánea) con estas notas al pie. Destacan también tanto las ilustraciones como el arreglo del texto.
Este libro, cuya primera edición vio la luz hace más de trescientos años y fue impresa en madera, sirve para relatar con crudeza la vida sexual del Japón del siglo XVII. Sexualidad que abarcaba todas las clases sociales y que se ejercía libremente, mas no era libre de juicios morales. Es en ese sentido, un libro que contrasta la vida libertina con los asideros morales propios del Budismo de la época; el desenlace podría ser propaganda budista. No obstante, es este libro una joya de la literatura japonesa por su valor histórico y artístico. Cabe destacar la labor de investigación del traductor, quien mediante notas al pie nos aclara modismos, costumbres, modas, unidades de medición, cosmogonías y en términos generales nos sumerge en la cultura japonesa (tanto clásica como contemporánea) con estas notas al pie. Destacan también tanto las ilustraciones como el arreglo del texto.
Read
June 6, 2022“Vida de una mujer amorosa” es una de las novelas más importantes de la literatura japonesa antigua. Una historia sobre el sórdido mundo de las cortesanas del Japón del siglo XVII que nos ayudará a comprender cómo era el Japón de comienzos del periodo de Edo.
Con una narrativa peculiar a modo de recopilaciones de anécdotas de su vida con toques de humor y mucha picardía.
Me ha llamado mucho la atención que en una edición anterior de 1977 y bajo el título “Vida de una cortesana” nuestra protagonista dejara de ser la víctima de una época y de una sociedad para convertirse en una mera ninfómana.
Esta es la sinopsis de aquella edición: “La protagonista, victima de la ninfomanía, busca la multiplicación de sus experiencias sexuales con varios amantes, movida por la avidez carnal, experimentando, incluso, un interludio de amor lésbico con una mujer de edad, que la requiere en amores, aunque esto no le cause placer.”
Parece que aunque sea poco a poco, este país va cambiando su mentalidad.
Con una narrativa peculiar a modo de recopilaciones de anécdotas de su vida con toques de humor y mucha picardía.
Me ha llamado mucho la atención que en una edición anterior de 1977 y bajo el título “Vida de una cortesana” nuestra protagonista dejara de ser la víctima de una época y de una sociedad para convertirse en una mera ninfómana.
Esta es la sinopsis de aquella edición: “La protagonista, victima de la ninfomanía, busca la multiplicación de sus experiencias sexuales con varios amantes, movida por la avidez carnal, experimentando, incluso, un interludio de amor lésbico con una mujer de edad, que la requiere en amores, aunque esto no le cause placer.”
Parece que aunque sea poco a poco, este país va cambiando su mentalidad.
April 1, 2019
La obra inicia cuando dos jóvenes visitan a una anciana que se ha retirado a vivir como ermitaña, en busca de consejos sobre la sexualidad y la vida amorosa. Ella narra su vida, desde los 12 años que se inició en este tipo de actividades y cuando sus padres la vendieron como cortesana elegante para poder ellos cubrir una deuda mayor. Cuenta su vida como concubina y de cierta forma esclava de un monje budista, de los señores a quién sirvió, de las aventuras y desventuras y de los numerosísimos hombres que pasaron por su vida para poder sobrevivir.
El autor, relata este tipo de oficio en el siglo XVII, que a pesar de la crudeza del tema, él lo hace con sutileza y hace del libro una muy buena experiencia.
El autor, relata este tipo de oficio en el siglo XVII, que a pesar de la crudeza del tema, él lo hace con sutileza y hace del libro una muy buena experiencia.
December 19, 2018
dù chẳng thể đồng cảm với phường đĩ điếm nhưng nói chung truyện nhiều tình tiết, câu chữ thú vị, nhất là về các sư haha rồi gì mà "Đối với phụ nữ, không gì đáng buồn hơn sự bất lực bẩm sinh của người đàn ông" haha cả mấy trò mồi chài trai rất ngộ, nói ngọng mới iu hay triết lý nói k vs ghen tuông ;))
Truyện dịch quá đỉnh nữa. bao nhiêu từ lạ, đẹp đẽ. Kể ra thì cũng có suy tư, tình tứ rất kiểu Nhật, ngây thơ đến cảm mến, đọc xong cũng bồi hồi, thương cảm. Chung quy thì chẳng riêng gì du nữ, đời ai cũng phù thế thôi.
Truyện dịch quá đỉnh nữa. bao nhiêu từ lạ, đẹp đẽ. Kể ra thì cũng có suy tư, tình tứ rất kiểu Nhật, ngây thơ đến cảm mến, đọc xong cũng bồi hồi, thương cảm. Chung quy thì chẳng riêng gì du nữ, đời ai cũng phù thế thôi.
April 28, 2015
Este libro contiene la historia de una mujer que vivió en carne propia los lujos de ser una cortesana de más alto rango y las penurias de ser una prostituta más del montón. Narrada con sutileza pero sin dejar de retratar los aspectos del "mundo flotante" (citando al libro: "término que, en el budismo, se refiere a lo efímero y fortuito de la existencia, y fue adoptado por la bohemia para referirse a un mundo sin asidero moral ni certezas").
October 28, 2018
Hay quá, ko hiểu do dịch giả mà thấy sao chuyện của tác giả thế kỷ 17 mà hiện đại quá. Truyện vừa hài vừa thương. Toàn bộ hỷ nộ ái ố xã hội đều xoay quanh cái chuyện ấy :D Nhiều trang đọc thấy chả khác gì xh bây giờ. Mà người Nhật đúng là quy củ, nghề gì cấp độ nào cũng phân bậc phân cấp, cũng có quy tắc lề luật, cũng có đạo đức nghề nghiệp :D
Truyện con mèo quả thực bá đạo :))
Truyện con mèo quả thực bá đạo :))
November 10, 2008
A classic piece of literature by one of the titans--along with Chikamatsu Monzaemon and Matsuo Basho--of the explosion of popular fiction in the Genroku period (1688-1704). Morris's translation is pretty good too.
June 1, 2014
Historia de una prostituta que fue elgida desde la juventud para ese oficio, las memorias de su decadencia a traves de una cultura diferente, pero dejan la sensación de que a pesar de eso, los humanos siempre seremos humanos)
May 2, 2025
Đời du nữ - 3 ⭐
- Trước hết mình phải dành lời khen cho dịch giả Đào Thị Hồ Phương, dịch hay và dùng từ ngữ đẹp.
- Đời du nữ thật sự đã mang cho mình một trải nghiệm đọc nhiều cung bậc cảm xúc. Mình chẳng thể đồng cảm với nhân vật "tôi" trong câu chuyện này nhưng cũng cảm thấy nặng lòng đôi chút vào những ngày tháng tuổi xế chiều của bà. Vào đoạn cuối bà gặp 2 câu thanh niên và kể lại câu chuyện đời mình, một cuộc phù thế, mụ mị đầy sắc dục. Đến mức bà thừa nhận bà đã ngủ với hơn mười ngàn người đàn ông để bây giờ lại sống trong nỗi tội lỗi. Khoảnh khắc nhân vật "tôi" như nhìn thấy những gương mặt của những người đàn ông đã đi qua đời mình rồi những bóng ma bà từng bỏ rơi cầu xin : "Cõng con! Cõng con". Mình vừa hững người lại vừa trách. Dù rất ghét nhân vật nhưng không thể phủ nhận bà này làm nhiều trò đủ WOW vc =))) Đọc nhiều đoạn mắc cười luôn.
- Chương mình ấn tượng : "Bài ca của những người đi đêm" khi những người phụ nữ "đi đêm" đã già nua, hơn cả tuổi tứ tuần chịu nhục đi vào những buổi đêm để không ai nhìn thấy, phục vụ đầy rẫy đàn ông mỗi đêm để đổi lại một cuộc sống xa hoa. Phải giả vờ là những cô gái trẻ tuổi. Một chi tiết phản ánh xã hội đương thời Nhật Bản, sự hèn mọn của những kẻ đi đêm.
- Điểm chê :
+ Ngay từ những chương đầu tiên mình đã dùng ánh mắt phán xét, hai đôi lông mày skinship vì hành động của nhân vật "tôi" với người chủ khi cô 12, 15t gì đó.
+ Nhân vật chính trong đây không thể khiến mình đồng cảm được và hình như chính cô cũng nhận thức được mình không xứng để đồng cảm.
+ Ai theo Đạo Phật chắc sốc lắm...Từ thầy tu đến ngoại tình, làm t**h trong phòng thờ rồi tượng Phật rung rung 😭🙏🏻 Ôi.
note : đọc cuốn này rồi nghe bài ひとり上手 hay nha mọi người =))))
* Một số trích dẫn từ "Đời du nữ" :
- "Cuộc đời hẳn nhiên là phù ảo nhưng cuộc đời là phiêu lãng. Phiêu lãng là sống. Là đi. Là yêu. Là ôm ấp trần gian. Là mộng. Là bay đi theo hương. Là phong ba. Là cát bụi. Là không chết trong khi sống. Là cười cho cả tiếng. Là khóc cho khô lệ. Là một hiện thân tràn đầy của từng khoảnh khắc."
- "Có lúc tôi đã khóc cho cuộc tình chân thật, và nhiều lúc vui cười nhờ những cuộc tình giả dối."
- "Chỉ người nào mưu sinh bằng những phương tiện đàng hoàng mới đáng gọi là người. Đời sống của con người có lẽ chỉ là giấc mơ, nhưng dù chỉ kéo dài độ năm mươi năm thì chọn một công việc tử tế trong thế gian này hẳn là cũng tìm được thôi."
- Trước hết mình phải dành lời khen cho dịch giả Đào Thị Hồ Phương, dịch hay và dùng từ ngữ đẹp.
- Đời du nữ thật sự đã mang cho mình một trải nghiệm đọc nhiều cung bậc cảm xúc. Mình chẳng thể đồng cảm với nhân vật "tôi" trong câu chuyện này nhưng cũng cảm thấy nặng lòng đôi chút vào những ngày tháng tuổi xế chiều của bà. Vào đoạn cuối bà gặp 2 câu thanh niên và kể lại câu chuyện đời mình, một cuộc phù thế, mụ mị đầy sắc dục. Đến mức bà thừa nhận bà đã ngủ với hơn mười ngàn người đàn ông để bây giờ lại sống trong nỗi tội lỗi. Khoảnh khắc nhân vật "tôi" như nhìn thấy những gương mặt của những người đàn ông đã đi qua đời mình rồi những bóng ma bà từng bỏ rơi cầu xin : "Cõng con! Cõng con". Mình vừa hững người lại vừa trách. Dù rất ghét nhân vật nhưng không thể phủ nhận bà này làm nhiều trò đủ WOW vc =))) Đọc nhiều đoạn mắc cười luôn.
- Chương mình ấn tượng : "Bài ca của những người đi đêm" khi những người phụ nữ "đi đêm" đã già nua, hơn cả tuổi tứ tuần chịu nhục đi vào những buổi đêm để không ai nhìn thấy, phục vụ đầy rẫy đàn ông mỗi đêm để đổi lại một cuộc sống xa hoa. Phải giả vờ là những cô gái trẻ tuổi. Một chi tiết phản ánh xã hội đương thời Nhật Bản, sự hèn mọn của những kẻ đi đêm.
- Điểm chê :
+ Ngay từ những chương đầu tiên mình đã dùng ánh mắt phán xét, hai đôi lông mày skinship vì hành động của nhân vật "tôi" với người chủ khi cô 12, 15t gì đó.
+ Nhân vật chính trong đây không thể khiến mình đồng cảm được và hình như chính cô cũng nhận thức được mình không xứng để đồng cảm.
+ Ai theo Đạo Phật chắc sốc lắm...Từ thầy tu đến ngoại tình, làm t**h trong phòng thờ rồi tượng Phật rung rung 😭🙏🏻 Ôi.
note : đọc cuốn này rồi nghe bài ひとり上手 hay nha mọi người =))))
* Một số trích dẫn từ "Đời du nữ" :
- "Cuộc đời hẳn nhiên là phù ảo nhưng cuộc đời là phiêu lãng. Phiêu lãng là sống. Là đi. Là yêu. Là ôm ấp trần gian. Là mộng. Là bay đi theo hương. Là phong ba. Là cát bụi. Là không chết trong khi sống. Là cười cho cả tiếng. Là khóc cho khô lệ. Là một hiện thân tràn đầy của từng khoảnh khắc."
- "Có lúc tôi đã khóc cho cuộc tình chân thật, và nhiều lúc vui cười nhờ những cuộc tình giả dối."
- "Chỉ người nào mưu sinh bằng những phương tiện đàng hoàng mới đáng gọi là người. Đời sống của con người có lẽ chỉ là giấc mơ, nhưng dù chỉ kéo dài độ năm mươi năm thì chọn một công việc tử tế trong thế gian này hẳn là cũng tìm được thôi."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2025
De vez en cuando me gusta elegir libros al azar, sin ningún tipo de referencias ni conocimiento sobre el autor ni sus obras. Así llegó a mis manos esta obra. Es la manera que tengo de leer otro tipo de literatura más allá de mis tres grandes pasiones, historia, clásicos y ciencia Ficción.
La obra trata sobre el sórdido mundo de las cortesanas del Japón del siglo XVII.
Comienza cuando dos jovenes de paseo por el bosque, se encuentran con una anciana prostituta recluida en una ermita, a quién piden consejo para comprender los misterios del amor.
La mujer les habla de su experiencia pasada desde las casas de sexo de lujo, donde conoció a todo tipo de personajes de alta alcurnia, hasta los burdeles más bajos y sucios donde se cruzó con lo más oscuro de la sociedad japonesa de su época.
Describe como va bajando de nivel en el sórdido mundo de las cortesanas según su cuerpo va perdiendo la belleza natural de la juventud.
También es una critica a las costumbres y tradiciones de la sociedad japonesa del siglo XVII, y la hipocresía y doble moral en la que vivian.
El autor, Ihara Saikaku, pasó de comerciante aficionado a la literatura a podta tras la muerte de su esposa y su hija.
Se dice que escribió 23.000 poemas, dedicó una elegía de 1.000 versos a su mujer e hijas desaparecidas.
La obra está estructurada en capítulos cortos, de fácil lectura, tiene apenas 200 páginas.
La recomiendo.
La obra trata sobre el sórdido mundo de las cortesanas del Japón del siglo XVII.
Comienza cuando dos jovenes de paseo por el bosque, se encuentran con una anciana prostituta recluida en una ermita, a quién piden consejo para comprender los misterios del amor.
La mujer les habla de su experiencia pasada desde las casas de sexo de lujo, donde conoció a todo tipo de personajes de alta alcurnia, hasta los burdeles más bajos y sucios donde se cruzó con lo más oscuro de la sociedad japonesa de su época.
Describe como va bajando de nivel en el sórdido mundo de las cortesanas según su cuerpo va perdiendo la belleza natural de la juventud.
También es una critica a las costumbres y tradiciones de la sociedad japonesa del siglo XVII, y la hipocresía y doble moral en la que vivian.
El autor, Ihara Saikaku, pasó de comerciante aficionado a la literatura a podta tras la muerte de su esposa y su hija.
Se dice que escribió 23.000 poemas, dedicó una elegía de 1.000 versos a su mujer e hijas desaparecidas.
La obra está estructurada en capítulos cortos, de fácil lectura, tiene apenas 200 páginas.
La recomiendo.
February 12, 2025
Япония.
1686г.
Книга охватывает вопросы о положении женщин в эпоху Эдо. Все женщины - жертвы системы и у них есть только 3 выбора:
-родиться в богатой семье и стать послушной женой
-быть частью торгового класса
-родиться в бедной семье, стать прислужницей или товаром на рынке.
С детства усвоив модель женщины, исключительно как объект удовольствия и товар на рынке, главная героиня обрекла себя на путь дальнейший. Для нее быть любовницей - это не просто способ выживания, а сама суть ее существования. Бесконечный цикл: страсть-разочарование-бегство-новая страсть. История о гедонизме, в которой нет победителей. Ты будешь востребованной и желанной, пока будешь молодой и недоступной, иначе не выживешь. А конец героини ведет не к покаянию, а к страху пустоты, что и приводит ее к в вере.
Автор на прямую говорит, что жизнь построенная только на удовольствии, заканчивается одиночеством. Помимо этого автор активно высмеивает общество. Все живут в мире обмана, особенно высший класс. Большая часть мужчин в книге - слащавые лжецы-пустышки, а женщины готовы рвать друг друга на куски из зависти, вне зависимости от своего статуса. И особое место для монахов - добродетелей, которые такие же грешники, как и все прочие клиенты. Образ героини - это отражение судеб тысяч женщин этой эпохи.
1686г.
Книга охватывает вопросы о положении женщин в эпоху Эдо. Все женщины - жертвы системы и у них есть только 3 выбора:
-родиться в богатой семье и стать послушной женой
-быть частью торгового класса
-родиться в бедной семье, стать прислужницей или товаром на рынке.
С детства усвоив модель женщины, исключительно как объект удовольствия и товар на рынке, главная героиня обрекла себя на путь дальнейший. Для нее быть любовницей - это не просто способ выживания, а сама суть ее существования. Бесконечный цикл: страсть-разочарование-бегство-новая страсть. История о гедонизме, в которой нет победителей. Ты будешь востребованной и желанной, пока будешь молодой и недоступной, иначе не выживешь. А конец героини ведет не к покаянию, а к страху пустоты, что и приводит ее к в вере.
Автор на прямую говорит, что жизнь построенная только на удовольствии, заканчивается одиночеством. Помимо этого автор активно высмеивает общество. Все живут в мире обмана, особенно высший класс. Большая часть мужчин в книге - слащавые лжецы-пустышки, а женщины готовы рвать друг друга на куски из зависти, вне зависимости от своего статуса. И особое место для монахов - добродетелей, которые такие же грешники, как и все прочие клиенты. Образ героини - это отражение судеб тысяч женщин этой эпохи.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2013
Acknowledged also as moral tales, this 4-part paperback translated by Ivan Morris is interesting and literary-oriented as notified by a line of capital letters above its title, that is, UNESCO COLLECTION OF REPRESENTATIVE LITERARY WORKS. Therefore, I thought this book was not a plain one since we'd read its collection of 12 works (?) written by one of the great fiction writers of Japan on the lowest class in the Tokugawa period (back cover). In fact, this paperback title at the cover came from Part 2 as we can see below:
1. Five Women Who Chose Love (3 stories)
2. The Life of an Amorous Woman (14 stories)
3. The Eternal Storehouse of Japan (3 stories)
4. Reckonings That Carry Men Through the World (5 stories)
As for Part 1, there is another translated version entitled "Five Women Who Loved Love" (de Bary, 1956) in which there are 5 books (chapters) as follows:
1. The Story of Seijuro in Himeji
2. The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love
3. What the Seasons Brought the Almanac Maker
4. The Greengrocer's Daughter with a Bundle of Love
5. Gengobei, the Mountain of Love
Therefore, compared these 5 stories to the 3 stories in Part 1 'Five Women Who Chose Love' above, the book by de Bary reveals Morris has not included Chapters 2 (The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love) and 4 (The Greengrocer's Daughter with a Bundle of Love) in his book.
Impressed by Saikaku's handwriting being the final two pages of the first edition of THE LIFE as well as its first-edition cover and painting of himself by his colleague (pp. ii, vi, 16), I thought reading his works could possibly be worthwhile. Moreover, it was copyright in 1963 by Unesco and first published as New Direction Paperback No. 270 in 1969, the present volume denotes its sixteenth printing (p. iv). When I read the translator's preface, I was stunned and amazed because he wrote it in Tokyo in 1958 when I was in Grade 4!
One of the advantages in reading this book is that we readers can read its introduction by, presumably, Ivan Morris in which he's introduced his readers with the following relevant key topics: The Period, The Author, The Work, The Style, The Illustrations, Saikaku's Place In Literature (pp. 3-51), thus, its readers should be happy and contented with his scholarly consideration because we don't have to find out more from other sources such as related references, texts, websites, etc. In other words, we as general readers could have sufficient knowledge and understanding related to Saikaku and some essential backgrounds. As for those aiming at their advanced studies, it is all right for them to pursue more in terms of its original Japanese sources.
Another is that, for those translators who know Japanese, they can read and make comparisons according to the numbering system being on the right (next to the end of words/sentences on that page) or on the left (before the paragraphs or words/sentences on that page). For example, on page 55 there're numbers 1, 2, 3 ... 10 on the right so I think the translator's translated this paragraph based on Saikaku's text from sentences 1-10 respectively. By the way, I think some interested readers might find its 127-page appendices useful and highly-academic as we again can see from its three titles: Sources (4 subtitles based on the four stories), Money in Saikoku's Time, The Hierarchy of Courtesans.
I liked this paragraph:
"Here also was a group of fellow-voyagers, each with the luggage that betokened his business -- a pilgrim bound for the Grand Shrine of Ise, ..., a pedlar of mosquito curtains from Tamba, ..."Ten men -- ten provinces" is a true saying, and travel by ferryboatis indeed fraught with interest." (p. 68)
Because this part informs me there're mosquitoes rampant in 17 century Japan (and I'm wondering now if in some places there're less or none). I also learned from reading somewhere they had mosquito netting too.
And this part:
"Indeed, the hardships that young ladies have to endure these days are quite beyond our imagination! If only their consorts would forbear and look with indulgence at their flaws, women might reconcile themselves, realizing that in this Floating World we cannot have everything as we wish. ..." (p. 173)
Since it poses a good warning especially in that we live in this 'Floating World' in which everything, everyone keeps changing eternally as a matter of course, therefore, it's wise to be aware of the ultimate truth, that is, birth, age, pain and death.
I think there're innumerable parts/discourses worth reflecting and adapting in our daily lives, however, we need to keep in mind this book by Saikaku written to share his witticisms, sense of humor, perception of human flaws, etc. as he visualized and wanted his posterity to know and not to repeat such worldly fallacies once again. One of the reasons is that we have relatively limited short periods as human beings living on earth, therefore, it's wise to do our best for the benefits of families, friends, colleagues and humankind.
As for the last two titles, that is, The Eternal Storehouse of Japan (3 stories), Reckonings that Carry Men through the World (5 stories), I think nearly all of them are non-amorous tales. I don't know why so I'd leave them for my GR friends to read them and share their viewpoints. Finally, when I have time I'd compare this collection of tales to the five-tale paperback translated by Wm. Theodore de Bary (Tuttle, 1956) to see their similarities as well as differences. That could expose some literary constraints to me because I don't know Japanese and I wonder who could be the judge and if he/she would correct my misunderstanding in which of course I'd definitely appreciate and am grateful.
I think this helps my GR friends to try reading Saikaku, find both copies, read any one first and enjoy!
.
1. Five Women Who Chose Love (3 stories)
2. The Life of an Amorous Woman (14 stories)
3. The Eternal Storehouse of Japan (3 stories)
4. Reckonings That Carry Men Through the World (5 stories)
As for Part 1, there is another translated version entitled "Five Women Who Loved Love" (de Bary, 1956) in which there are 5 books (chapters) as follows:
1. The Story of Seijuro in Himeji
2. The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love
3. What the Seasons Brought the Almanac Maker
4. The Greengrocer's Daughter with a Bundle of Love
5. Gengobei, the Mountain of Love
Therefore, compared these 5 stories to the 3 stories in Part 1 'Five Women Who Chose Love' above, the book by de Bary reveals Morris has not included Chapters 2 (The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love) and 4 (The Greengrocer's Daughter with a Bundle of Love) in his book.
Impressed by Saikaku's handwriting being the final two pages of the first edition of THE LIFE as well as its first-edition cover and painting of himself by his colleague (pp. ii, vi, 16), I thought reading his works could possibly be worthwhile. Moreover, it was copyright in 1963 by Unesco and first published as New Direction Paperback No. 270 in 1969, the present volume denotes its sixteenth printing (p. iv). When I read the translator's preface, I was stunned and amazed because he wrote it in Tokyo in 1958 when I was in Grade 4!
One of the advantages in reading this book is that we readers can read its introduction by, presumably, Ivan Morris in which he's introduced his readers with the following relevant key topics: The Period, The Author, The Work, The Style, The Illustrations, Saikaku's Place In Literature (pp. 3-51), thus, its readers should be happy and contented with his scholarly consideration because we don't have to find out more from other sources such as related references, texts, websites, etc. In other words, we as general readers could have sufficient knowledge and understanding related to Saikaku and some essential backgrounds. As for those aiming at their advanced studies, it is all right for them to pursue more in terms of its original Japanese sources.
Another is that, for those translators who know Japanese, they can read and make comparisons according to the numbering system being on the right (next to the end of words/sentences on that page) or on the left (before the paragraphs or words/sentences on that page). For example, on page 55 there're numbers 1, 2, 3 ... 10 on the right so I think the translator's translated this paragraph based on Saikaku's text from sentences 1-10 respectively. By the way, I think some interested readers might find its 127-page appendices useful and highly-academic as we again can see from its three titles: Sources (4 subtitles based on the four stories), Money in Saikoku's Time, The Hierarchy of Courtesans.
I liked this paragraph:
"Here also was a group of fellow-voyagers, each with the luggage that betokened his business -- a pilgrim bound for the Grand Shrine of Ise, ..., a pedlar of mosquito curtains from Tamba, ..."Ten men -- ten provinces" is a true saying, and travel by ferryboatis indeed fraught with interest." (p. 68)
Because this part informs me there're mosquitoes rampant in 17 century Japan (and I'm wondering now if in some places there're less or none). I also learned from reading somewhere they had mosquito netting too.
And this part:
"Indeed, the hardships that young ladies have to endure these days are quite beyond our imagination! If only their consorts would forbear and look with indulgence at their flaws, women might reconcile themselves, realizing that in this Floating World we cannot have everything as we wish. ..." (p. 173)
Since it poses a good warning especially in that we live in this 'Floating World' in which everything, everyone keeps changing eternally as a matter of course, therefore, it's wise to be aware of the ultimate truth, that is, birth, age, pain and death.
I think there're innumerable parts/discourses worth reflecting and adapting in our daily lives, however, we need to keep in mind this book by Saikaku written to share his witticisms, sense of humor, perception of human flaws, etc. as he visualized and wanted his posterity to know and not to repeat such worldly fallacies once again. One of the reasons is that we have relatively limited short periods as human beings living on earth, therefore, it's wise to do our best for the benefits of families, friends, colleagues and humankind.
As for the last two titles, that is, The Eternal Storehouse of Japan (3 stories), Reckonings that Carry Men through the World (5 stories), I think nearly all of them are non-amorous tales. I don't know why so I'd leave them for my GR friends to read them and share their viewpoints. Finally, when I have time I'd compare this collection of tales to the five-tale paperback translated by Wm. Theodore de Bary (Tuttle, 1956) to see their similarities as well as differences. That could expose some literary constraints to me because I don't know Japanese and I wonder who could be the judge and if he/she would correct my misunderstanding in which of course I'd definitely appreciate and am grateful.
I think this helps my GR friends to try reading Saikaku, find both copies, read any one first and enjoy!
.
February 3, 2018
well, this is not actually "the life of an amorous woman" but rather a compilation of stories by ihara saikaku - something I did not realize when picking up the book. maybe because of being condensed it translation, the stories very quick-paced, all the main ideas are still there though. I would not describe the stories (at least in this edition) as pornographic - sexual scenes occur frequently as part of the plot, but the descriptions are rather short and mild, the writer here is far more concerned with life, society and morals. the introduction and the annotations do a good job at giving some context for understanding, but of course the more knowledge you have on the topic before you start reading, the better. the stories have quite clever plotlines and read well, although personally, I found the characters not always quite believable, especially in the first quarter of the book.
December 17, 2024
La obra está completamente tejida por la misma premisa: el abandono a los placeres puede corromper al ser humano. Ese abandono atrapa a la protagonista, quien encarna todos y cada uno de los grados que una mujer de su corte puede tener: desde el rango más elevado hasta el más pueril y mundano.
Costumbrista como es, permite observar con detenimiento lo que Japón fue en ese periodo, indicándonos así un importante mensaje: la belleza no es solo apariencial, sino que también necesita actitud y acatamiento a las normas. Pero Saikaku no es la voz mansa de su pueblo, sino que más bien es un crítico de sus contemporáneos, de ahí que haya sido tan polémica su obra en su tiempo.
Pero, tristemente, me cansó mucho. Cada capítulo nuevo era un nuevo comienzo de su protagonista con un final que ya se anticipaba. Como sea, no fue una lectura que me encantó... ¡una lástima!
Costumbrista como es, permite observar con detenimiento lo que Japón fue en ese periodo, indicándonos así un importante mensaje: la belleza no es solo apariencial, sino que también necesita actitud y acatamiento a las normas. Pero Saikaku no es la voz mansa de su pueblo, sino que más bien es un crítico de sus contemporáneos, de ahí que haya sido tan polémica su obra en su tiempo.
Pero, tristemente, me cansó mucho. Cada capítulo nuevo era un nuevo comienzo de su protagonista con un final que ya se anticipaba. Como sea, no fue una lectura que me encantó... ¡una lástima!
December 4, 2017
This selection of Saikaku’s prose consists of six stories, the longest of which is the title of the book. It brutally depicts the life of a woman ruined by a sensuous life and, but for the subject of all consuming lust, offers a counter argument to our youth against the modern world’s encouragement of hedonism. Saikaku’s talent does not approach Murasaki Shikibu in her Tale of Genji, but then again, it deals with the merchant class and not heroic nobility. His other stories are well crafted and entertaining.
August 27, 2021
In a word, illuminating. The translations of Saikaku's works are beautifully composed, and the addition of a thorough foreword, appendix and notes allows the reader to enjoy the works as they stand alone and as testaments of Tokugawa period Japan. Of particular note is the titular Amorous Woman. While making clear his disdain for the "fickle heart" of women, Saikaku is able to render his much beleaguered Amorous Woman with empathy and understanding. In that way I was reminded of Flaubert and his Madame Bovary.
Read
July 21, 2024The Life of an Amorous Woman (好色一代女, Kōshoku Ichidai Onna, 1686
The Eternal Storehouse of Japan (日本永代蔵, Nippon Eitaigura, 1688)
Reckonings that Carry Men Through the World or This Scheming World (世間胸算用, Seken Munesan'yō, 1692)
The Eternal Storehouse of Japan (日本永代蔵, Nippon Eitaigura, 1688)
Reckonings that Carry Men Through the World or This Scheming World (世間胸算用, Seken Munesan'yō, 1692)
March 17, 2025
3,5
Literariamente no me ha maravillado este libro pero me ha dejado impresionado que un libro japones escrito hace casi 400 años describa la vida de una mujer dedicada a la prostitución de forma tan explicita y detallada con todos los rituales sociales que había en aquel momento en Japón.
Literariamente no me ha maravillado este libro pero me ha dejado impresionado que un libro japones escrito hace casi 400 años describa la vida de una mujer dedicada a la prostitución de forma tan explicita y detallada con todos los rituales sociales que había en aquel momento en Japón.
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