The Life of an Amorous Woman and Other Writings

by Ihara Saikaku, Ivan Morris (Editor), Ivan Morris (Translator)

Overview

“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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811201872
Publisher:	New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	01/17/1969
Series:	UNESCO Collection of Contemporary Works
Pages:	403
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

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

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

What People are Saying About This

James Kirkup

"The fine style fo the writing and the clear outlines of illustration, which are not even remotely 'suggestive' give Saikaku's pornography grace and wit and charity."