Erotickish litficky
May. 17th, 2007 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonRandom quote of the day:
"The inmost soul works only in the dark, and if one tries to bring it to clear consciousness, the work itself will fail!"
—Alison Fell, The Pillow Boy of Lady Onogoro
And here's the (rather self-conscious and precious, if I do say so) review I wrote of this book back in August of 2004:
One erotickish litficky book I read was The Pillow Boy of Lady Onogoro by Alison Fell. Really beautiful writing and captivating, fanciful story. It's set in 11th century Japan and centers around a young woman poet at the Imperial court. She's befriended by the great woman poet Izumi Shikibu and many lovely translations of the short Japanese poetry of Izumi are scattered throughout, as well as the poems of our heroine, the Lady Onogoro. Back in the day, there were many respected women poets in the Japanese court. But the heart of the story revolves around the fact that Lady O can't have orgasms with her current lover, General Motosuke, who has taken her on as his official mistress (a respectable position in this society). In polite Japanese society of the day, it was considered improper for a man to take his gratification before he'd seen to the gratification of his partner. Hurray for propriety! But this does present a problem for Lady O and makes the general wonder if she really likes him. So the stable boy, Oyu, renowned for his storytelling, hides behind the bed screen near Lady O's head and secretly whispers erotic tales to her while the general is occupied lower down on her body. There isn't anything turgid and throbbing going on, but it is sexy. And there's some court intrigue and meditations not only on love but on happiness and the meaning of life and etc., etc. And plenty of fabulist elements, too, incorporating a lot of Japanese folk tales and the like. Just a lovely book.
And here's a poem by Izumi Shikibu I like:
In the dusk the path
You used to come to me
Is overgrown and indistinguishable,
Except for the spider webs
That hang across it
Like threads of sorrow.
(tr. Kenneth Rexroth)
Okay, since you insist, here's one more:
Even if I now saw you
only once,
I would long for you
through worlds,
worlds.
(tr. by Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani)
"The inmost soul works only in the dark, and if one tries to bring it to clear consciousness, the work itself will fail!"
—Alison Fell, The Pillow Boy of Lady Onogoro
And here's the (rather self-conscious and precious, if I do say so) review I wrote of this book back in August of 2004:
One erotickish litficky book I read was The Pillow Boy of Lady Onogoro by Alison Fell. Really beautiful writing and captivating, fanciful story. It's set in 11th century Japan and centers around a young woman poet at the Imperial court. She's befriended by the great woman poet Izumi Shikibu and many lovely translations of the short Japanese poetry of Izumi are scattered throughout, as well as the poems of our heroine, the Lady Onogoro. Back in the day, there were many respected women poets in the Japanese court. But the heart of the story revolves around the fact that Lady O can't have orgasms with her current lover, General Motosuke, who has taken her on as his official mistress (a respectable position in this society). In polite Japanese society of the day, it was considered improper for a man to take his gratification before he'd seen to the gratification of his partner. Hurray for propriety! But this does present a problem for Lady O and makes the general wonder if she really likes him. So the stable boy, Oyu, renowned for his storytelling, hides behind the bed screen near Lady O's head and secretly whispers erotic tales to her while the general is occupied lower down on her body. There isn't anything turgid and throbbing going on, but it is sexy. And there's some court intrigue and meditations not only on love but on happiness and the meaning of life and etc., etc. And plenty of fabulist elements, too, incorporating a lot of Japanese folk tales and the like. Just a lovely book.
And here's a poem by Izumi Shikibu I like:
In the dusk the path
You used to come to me
Is overgrown and indistinguishable,
Except for the spider webs
That hang across it
Like threads of sorrow.
(tr. Kenneth Rexroth)
Okay, since you insist, here's one more:
Even if I now saw you
only once,
I would long for you
through worlds,
worlds.
(tr. by Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani)
no subject
Date: 2007-05-18 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-18 05:02 pm (UTC)