The Modern Murasaki

The first anthology of its kind, The Modern Murasaki brings the vibrancy and rich imagination of women's writing from the Meiji period to English-language readers. Along with traditional prose, the editors have chosen and carefully translated short stories, plays, poetry, speeches, essays, and personal journal entries. Selected readings include writings by the public speaker Kishida Toshiko, the dramatist Hasegawa Shigure, the short-fiction writer Shimizu Shikin, the political writer Tamura Toshiko, and the novelists Miyake Kaho, Higuchi Ichiyo, Tazawa Inabune, Kitada Usurai, Nogami Yaeko, and Mizuno Senko. The volume also includes a thorough introduction to each reading, an extensive index listing historical, social, and literary concepts, and a comprehensive guide to further research. The fierce tenor and bold content of these texts refute the popular belief that women of this era were passive and silent. A vital addition to courses in women's studies and Japanese literature and history, The Modern Murasaki is a singular resource for students and scholars.

The first anthology of its kind, The Modern Murasaki brings the vibrancy and rich imagination of women's writing from the Meiji period to English-language readers. Along with traditional prose, the editors have chosen and carefully translated short stories, plays, poetry, speeches, essays, and personal journal entries. Selected readings include writings by the public speaker Kishida Toshiko, the dramatist Hasegawa Shigure, the short-fiction writer Shimizu Shikin, the political writer Tamura Toshiko, and the novelists Miyake Kaho, Higuchi Ichiyo, Tazawa Inabune, Kitada Usurai, Nogami Yaeko, and Mizuno Senko. The volume also includes a thorough introduction to each reading, an extensive index listing historical, social, and literary concepts, and a comprehensive guide to further research. The fierce tenor and bold content of these texts refute the popular belief that women of this era were passive and silent. A vital addition to courses in women's studies and Japanese literature and history, The Modern Murasaki is a singular resource for students and scholars.

The Handbook of Modern and Contemporary Japanese Women Writers offers a comprehensive overview of women writers in Japan, from the late 19th century to the early 21st. Featuring 24 newly written contributions from scholars in the field--representing expertise from North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia--the Handbook introduces and analyzes works by modern and contemporary women writers that coalesce loosely around common themes, tropes, and genres. Putting writers from different generations in conversation with one another reveals the diverse ways they have responded to similar subjects. Whereas women writers may have shared concerns--the pressure to conform to gendered expectation, the tension between family responsibility and individual interests, the quest for self-affirmation--each writer invents her own approach. As readers will see, we have writers who turn to memoir and autobiography, while others prefer to imagine fabulous fictional worlds. Some engage with the literary classics--whether Japanese, Chinese, or European--and invest their works with rich intertextual allusions. Other writers grapple with colonialism, militarism, nationalism, and industrialization. This Handbook builds a foundation which invites readers to launch their own investigations into women's writing in Japan.

The Purgatorio is the celestial afterworld where all people who die on Earth first immediately arrive to be purged and processed in their after-life by the Angels and Wise Prophets. The Journalist Romano as Adam & the ancient Prophet Zarathustra arrive to attend the Annual Lantern Parade in the attached Paradiso but will experience all the aspects of the Purgatorio before moving onto the Paradiso. The Café Graeco-Roman is the largest public café in the Celestial Kingdom where souls gather to discuss their personal, recreational and theological concerns amidst conspiratorial undercurrents led by the diabolical Devil and his tough-talking Three Crown Princes arriving as both undercover comedians and Garcons. The World’s main religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam and the Primitive Religions as well are explored by both the Young French Professeur and the Extraordinary School Children. The Conspiracy Theorists are introduced while Celestial Tour Announcements about Guided Trips to Earth are permitted to those who qualify are given all day. A Literary Intermezzo is offered to display the literature greats forming their Literary Collective which include souls like Chaucer, Charles Dickens, the Grimm Brothers, Christopher Marlowe, Mary Shelley, Lady Murasaki, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shakespeare, the Russian existentialists & others. Theological and Intellectual debates are also offered with the ancient Greek philosophers of Socrates & Plato & Aristotle to the modern thinkers Darwin, Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, George Bernard Shaw, Voltaire, Rabelais & others. Ideologies and Faiths are also explored in Chapters with the subjects of the True Authorship of the Christian New Testament & the Higher Criticism of the Bible. GOD also has approved an Interstellar Scientific Project designed to explore the Universe with celestial physicists, mathematicians, bio-chemists, bio-technologists, behavioral scientists, political economists, philosophers, existentialists, theologians etc. all assisted by Albert Einstein among others.

A lively, accessible survey of genders and sexualities in modern Japanese history from the 1860s to the present.

Notes On A Classic™ Series are designed to take the extraordinary in literature and make them accessible to modern readers. Anthropologist Erick DuPree has compiled the cultural and social context of the world of Prince Genji alongside the more profound meaning to help readers fully discover the world's first novel, The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. Uncovering Genji: A Reader's Guide To Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale Of Genji is a complete reader's guide offering detailed chapter summaries and thematic commentaries covering the most widely taught chapters, as well as cross-referenced notes on the novel's many characters. Commentary on critical themes like Women and Sexual Politics, Nature, and Power, as well as timelines, details about Murasaki Shikibu's life, the Heian court, and more.

Organized by theme, this comprehensive encyclopedia examines all aspects of life in Japan, from geography and government to food and etiquette and much more. Japan, or the "Land of the Rising Sun," is home to more than 126 million people, nearly 10 million of whom live in Tokyo alone. How did this tiny island nation become such a powerhouse in the 21st century, and where will it go from here? Modern Japan examines history and contemporary life through thematic entries organized into chapters covering such topics as geography; history; government and politics; economy; religion and thought; social classes and ethnicity; gender, marriage, and sexuality; education; language; etiquette; literature and drama; art and architecture; music and dance; food; leisure and sports; and media and popular culture. Each chapter contains an overview of the topic and alphabetized entries on examples of each theme. A chronology covers from prehistoric times to the present, and special appendices offer profiles of a typical day in the life of representative members of Japanese society, key facts and figures about Japan, and a holiday chart. This volume is ideal for students researching Japan, as well as general readers interested in learning more about the country.