USD $109.00
Poets, Patrons, and the Public: Poetry as Cultural Phenomenon in Courtly Japan
Series: - Brill's Japanese Studies Library, Volume: 81
Author:
Waka poetry was all the rage in tenth-century, courtly Japan. Every educated person composed it, emperors and consorts sponsored it, and societal interest in it was at an all-time high. Persiani’s book offers an unprecedentedly broad and vivid portrayal of this season of literary flourishing, revealing the multitude of factors that contributed to it, as well as the social, political, and cultural reasons behind waka’s rise.
Deftly combining sociological theory and social and intellectual history with insightful readings of a wealth of primary texts—some never before discussed in English—the book is both a history of waka in the Heian period and a study of Heian court society through the lens of waka.
Deftly combining sociological theory and social and intellectual history with insightful readings of a wealth of primary texts—some never before discussed in English—the book is both a history of waka in the Heian period and a study of Heian court society through the lens of waka.
Gian Piero Persiani is Assistant Professor of Premodern Japanese Literature and Culture at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He writes on premodern Japanese literature and culture, the relationship between Sinitic and vernacular forms in medieval East Asia, and the history of East-West contacts. Poets, Patrons, and the Public: Poetry as Cultural Phenomenon in Courtly Japan is his first book.
From the reader's report: “The primary audience for this book will of course be scholars and students of Japanese literature. Since it provides a comprehensive view of this critical turning point in what is now regarded as the most important poetic genre in Japanese literary history, it will certainly become a reference work for all survey courses in Japanese literature. Beyond that, its creative use of sociological theory related to cultural production and consumption will have appeal for scholars and general readers interested in comparative literature, art history, reception studies and cultural history. The eminently accessible quality of its writing style give it potential for attracting a larger readership than usual for critical works on premodern Japanese literature.”
Scholars and students of Japanese literature, comparative literature, art history, reception studies and cultural history.