DOCSLIB.ORG

A History of Japanese Literature

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A History of Japanese Literature A HISTORY OF JAPANESE LITERATURE VOLUME ONE The Archaic and Ancient Ages A history of Japanese Literature VOLUME ONE THE ARCHAIC AND ANCIENT AGES (By Jin'icfii KonisHi TRANSLATED BY Aileen Gatten AND Nicholas Teele EDITED BY Earl Miner PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright O 1984 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data will be found on the last printed page of this book ISBN 0-691-06592-6 (dothbound). 10146-9 (limited paperback edition) Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The publisher and author wish to thank the Japan Foundation for its support This book has been composed m Linotron Sabon Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Paperbacks, although satisfactory for personal collections, are not usually suitable for library rebinding Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey TO THE MEMORY OF Sir George Sansom CONTENTS List of Tables and Illustrations ix Author's Preface xi Author's Acknowledgments xiii Editor's Foreword xv General Introduction 3 Aims and Methods 3 Japanese Literature Defined 9 Special Characteristics · Japanese Literature as Part of Asian Literature · Yamato Literature and Non-Yamato Literature The Method of Periodizing 52 Equivalences of Periods and Cultural Regions · Indices of Periodizing · Periods of Asian Literary History PART ONE THE ARCHAIC AGE: FROM CHAOS TO DIFFERENTIATION Chapter 1. Primeval Chaos 81 Preliterary Times 81 The Spiritual and the Incantatory 94 Chapter 2. Toward the Differentiation of Genres 111 The Course of Lyric Poetry 112 The Works, Their Transmission, and Their Reception · Old and New Strata The Course of Narrative 156 The Works, Their Transmission, and Their Reception · Old, Middle, and New Strata Stories of the Gods · Stories of the Royal House PART TWO THE ANCIENT AGE: THE AGE OF KOTODAMA Chapter 3. The Character of the Ancient Age 203 Kotodama as an Ideal 203 Awareness of Ga and the Literati's World 212 Chapter 4. The Works, Their Reception, and Their Transmission 227 Methods and Aims of the Works 227 Methods and Circumstances of Reception 236 Forms of Transmission 243 Transmission of Waka · Transmission of Setsuwa viii CONTENTS Chapter 5. The Definition of Genres 266 From Song to Waka 266 Court Song and Provincial Song' Recognition of Poetic Qualities in Waka Verse-Prose and Prose in Narrative Mode 295 PART THREE THE ANCIENT AGE: THE FIRST STAGE Chapter 6. The Study and Composition of Chinese 309 Composition on the Chinese Model 309 An Approximation of a Poetic Circle 315 Chapter 7. Waka Expression 324 The Rise of Ga and the Fall of Kotodama 324 The World of Hitomaro 337 The Exaltation of Kotodama Contact with Ga Chapter 8. Setsuwa Expression 365 From Oral to Written Narrative 365 The World of Yasumaro 369 PART FOUR THE ANCIENT AGE: THE SECOND STAGE Chapter 9. The Composition of Poetry and Prose in Chinese 377 The Formation of a Poetic Circle 377 Individual Expression 384 Chapter 10. Waka Composition 393 From Kotodama to Ga 393 Poetry of Those at the Capital 405 Chapter 11. Setsuwa Composition 418 From Setsuwa to Monogatari 418 Reality and Unreality in Setsuwa 425 Chronological Table 431 Bibliography 439 Finding List for Japanese Poems 457 Index 461 LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS TABLES 1. Classification of Ryukyuan Literature 39 2. Events in Chinese and Japanese History 66 3. Redating of Early Japanese History 193 MAP Ryukyu Archipelago 37 FRONTISPIECE A young lady under a flowering tree (8th century screen painting). Known as "The Lady with the Feathered Robe," although the feathers have disappeared. In the Shosoin (Royal Household Museum, Nara). By courtesy of the Royal Household and Kodansha publishers, Japan FIGURES 1. Ainu Yukar 36 2. Correspondence of Periods in East Asian Literatures 76 3. Mayunganashi (Okinawa) 97 4. Haniwa (clay image) of a Mourning Man 126 5. Ancient Stage in Doi's Reconstruction 131 6. Higi of Ancient Palace 158 7. Kojiki manuscript 259 8. Hokke Gisho manuscript 312 Figures 3, 4, 7, and 8 by courtesy of Kodansha publishers, Japan AUTHOR'S PREFACE This first volume of A History of Japanese Literature initiates a planned series of five. It deals with the Archaic and Ancient Ages, and subsequent volumes will follow—with exceptions that must be mentioned—in chron­ ological order. Because this account of Japanese literature is comparative and because it defines Japanese literature to include Ainu and Ryukyuan literature, discussions of the "ancient" periods of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Ainu, and Ryukyuan literatures refer to conceptual elements. In other words, what is ancient in Chinese literature is taken to predate what is ancient in Japanese, and what is ancient in Japanese predates what is ancient in Ainu and Ryukyuan. For comparative and conceptual purposes, a volume on ancient Japanese literature must therefore refer to different years of Western reckoning for each of the literatures dis­ cussed. This is explained in detail in the General Introduction, but it is also a matter of sufficient importance to require explicit mention here. In this and subsequent volumes chronology will also be violated for interpretive and comparative purposes. In this volume such violation is relatively small, amounting to little more than comparison of the poetry of the Man'yoshu (interpreted in terms of the age in which it was written) with some modern interpretations (based on modern criteria). Since some of the modern interpreters of the Man'yoshu were themselves poets who wrote with the poetry of that collection as an ideal, it has seemed nec­ essary to clarify the difference between their understanding and the actual historical and poetic nature of the Man'yoshu. This should pose no prob­ lems for readers of this volume, although examples in later volumes may prove to be more radical. These departures from chronology literally considered owe something in my thought to T. S. Eliot's ideas as expressed in his essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent." Of course, he did not have Asian literature in mind, and his ideas have required considerable adaptation to be useful for my purposes. In order to avoid possible misunderstandings, it has seemed best to make clear matters that might possibly confuse readers. If I dwell on them here, the chief reason is that this is the first volume. As the Contents show, the main account of the Archaic and the Ancient Ages is here divided into four parts, consisting in all of eleven chapters. The aim is to recover as much as is now feasible from long-distant times and to present it in intelligible order guided by the historical principles introduced at the outset. Although this work is obviously a history, it has often seemed necessary not merely to relate and describe but also to analyze and evaluate. In such instances, my criteria will be explicit. XIl AUTHOR'S PREFACE To save space, I have adopted two means of annotation. In the text there are parenthetical references—by author's name, date of work, and volume or page numbers—to works cited in the Bibliography at the end. By such means I can cite my indebtedness to others and direct readers who desire to explore a specific matter without unduly cluttering the page. On the other hand, more explanatory matters are handled in foot­ notes. Further matters of importance are referred to in the dedication, my Acknowledgments, and the Editor's Foreword. J. K. The Library of Congress Washington, D.C. May 1982 AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks above all to the late George Sansom, who effected the scholarly bond between Earl Miner and myself. If Sir George had not generously invited me to Stanford University in 1957, this work would probably never have come into being. The considerable and still undisclosed efforts made at that time by Professor Donald Keene in connection with my visit to Stanford are also the object of my unforgettable gratitude. I have, in fact, benefited twofold from Professor Keene, in that he also gave me the direct motivation for writing this work. During my two years at Stanford, I learned a great deal from Earl about literary criticism. This, together with what he taught me in later years, plays a vital role in this work. Yet I would hardly have been able to comprehend Earl's instruction without the presence, at that time, of Robert H. Brower, then at Stanford. It is thanks to Bob that I was able, despite my poor English, to master difficult critical theories over a rel­ atively short time. Those years at Stanford, blessed by good friends, were the finest of my life. There was further cause for gratitude in the warmth and cordiality given by Professor John D. Goheen to my family and me, as well as in the kindness of the late Professors Arthur F. and Mary C. Wright, of Professor Thomas C. Smith, and of Professor Nobutaka Ike. The gracious academic life I enjoyed through their good offices became an important if indirect impetus in the writing of this work. Since then I have visited the United States six times. Each time my desire has grown stronger to publish a work in English on Japanese literature. Spurred on by Professor Keene, I decided to write the volumes of this envisioned history, and in 1980 I was able to conduct a short period of research at Princeton University.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Harper Dissertation 20129.Pdf
    Copyright by David Andrew Harper 2012 The Dissertation Committee for David Andrew Harper Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Curb’d Enthusiasms: Critical Interventions in the Reception of Paradise Lost, 1667-1732 Committee: John Rumrich, Supervisor Lance Bertelsen Douglas Bruster Jack Lynch Leah Marcus Curb’d Enthusiasms: Critical Interventions in the Reception of Paradise Lost, 1667-1732 by David Andrew Harper, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December, 2012 Curb’d Enthusiasms: Critical Interventions in the Reception of Paradise Lost, 1667-1732 David Andrew Harper, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2012 Supervisor: John Rumrich Although recent critics have attempted to push the canonization of Paradise Lost ever further into the past, the early reception of Milton’s great poem should be treated as a process rather than as an event inaugurated by the pronouncement of a poet laureate or lord. Inevitably linked to Milton’s Restoration reputation as spokesman for the Protectorate and regicides, Paradise Lost’s reception in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries is marked by a series of approaches and retreats, repressions and recoveries. This dissertation examines the critical interventions made by P.H. (traditionally identified as Patrick Hume), John Dennis, Joseph Addison, and Richard Bentley into the reception history of a poem burdened by political and religious baggage. It seeks to illuminate the manner in which these earliest commentators sought to separate Milton’s politics from his poem, rendering the poem “safe” by removing it from contemporary political discourse.
    [Show full text]
  • Labyrinth of Tanka (PDF)
    The Labyrinth of Tanka by M. Kei Previously appeared in Modern English Tanka 7, Spring, 2008. Copyright 2008 by M. Kei. All rights reserved. The Labyrinth of Tanka M. Kei Introduction For the last two years I have wrestled with the question of defining tanka. What is this elusive thing we call ‘the tanka spirit’ and why do we resort to such nebulous terms to explain what it is we write? What shapes our intuition so that we have a gut level reaction that tells us whether a poem is or isn’t tanka? Can something be tanka even if the poet has no idea what tanka is, or lived in a different time and culture with no exposure to Japanese literature? Most definitions of tanka begin with a reference to the Japanese form, quoting 5-7-5-7-7 syllables, onji, sound units, morae, or whatever term the author wishes to use to describe the thing that the Japanese count, but rarely is any attention given to Japanese variations from those counts. It is generally accepted that Japanese poetry and even prose ‘naturally’ falls into patterns of 5-7, but no understanding of when and why this pattern developed. Lately most Anglophone poets have come to understand that Japanese is a very different language from English and therefore tanka must be adapted to the English language. A very common rubric used to define tanka these days is “five phrases on five lines.” Yet, the Japanese wrote their tanka on one, two, and sometimes three lines. The ‘fiveness’ of tanka is well entrenched in English, so much so that little attention has been given to understanding exactly what a ‘phrase’ is, and equally little attention given to how larger structures within a tanka function.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Evidence in Poetry Competitions Revised Final.Pdf
    This is a repository copy of A fine thing for the way : evidence, counter-evidence and argument in the Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/150938/ Version: Accepted Version Article: McAuley, T.E. orcid.org/0000-0002-9181-8291 (2019) A fine thing for the way : evidence, counter-evidence and argument in the Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds. Japan Forum. ISSN 0955-5803 https://doi.org/10.1080/09555803.2019.1676288 This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Japan Forum on 13/11/2019, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09555803.2019.1676288. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ A Fine Thing for the Way: Evidence, Counter-evidence and Argument in the Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds This article discusses the types of evidence used to support the critical positions taken by Fujiwara no Shunzei and the monk Kenshō in the Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds (Roppyakuban uta’awase; 1193-94).
    [Show full text]
  • Article Full Text
    EARLY MODERN JAPAN FALL, 2002 Early Modern Literature tional history. This is not to say that the recent scholarship is out of touch with contemporary © Haruo Shirane (HS), Columbia University scholarship. On the contrary, the best scholarship and Lawrence E. Marceau (LEM), Univer- and criticism in early modern literary studies is sity of Delaware closely tied to recent trends in Japanese scholar- ship and contemporary Western literary and cul- General Comments tural theory and is best understood in a context Generally speaking, the history of Japanese that transcends Western historiography, which is literary studies in English can be divided into two still too thinly dispersed to provide a critical stages. The first stage is usually that of transla- frame. tion; the second is that of scholarship. In some A number of Western literary studies in the cases, translation is preceded by literary histories 1950s-1980s consisted of a translation or transla- or more general studies that take up texts that tions preceded by an extended introduction. Typi- have not been translated. Such is the case of Wil- cal examples include Howard Hibbett’s The liam Aston, A History of Japanese Literature Floating World in Japanese Fiction3, which in- (1899), the earliest history of Japanese literature, clude translations of ukiyo-zoshi by Saikaku and and Donald Keene’s World Within Walls.1 These Ejima Kiseki in the latter half of the book. In literary histories have served the function of the 1990s, this format has given way to mono- arousing the interest of readers and potential graphs that are almost entirely concentrated on translators in yet untranslated works.
    [Show full text]
  • Learning with Waka Poetry: Transmission and Production Of
    Learning with Waka Poetry: Transmission and Production of Social Knowledge and Cultural Memory in Premodern Japan Ariel G. Stilerman Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2015 © 2015 Ariel G. Stilerman All rights reserved ABSTRACT Learning with Waka Poetry: Transmission and Production of Knowledge and Cultural Memory in Premodern Japan Ariel G. Stilerman This dissertation argues that throughout premodern Japan, classical Japanese poetry (waka) served as a vehicle for the transmission of social knowledge, cultural memory, and specialized information. Waka was originally indispensable to private and public social interactions among aristocrats, but it came to play a diversity of functions for warriors, monks, farmers, merchants, and other social groups at each and every level of premodern society and over many centuries, particularly from the late Heian period (785- 1185) through the Edo period (1600-1868). To trace the changes in the social functions of waka, this dissertation explores several moments in the history of waka: the development of a pedagogy for waka in the poetic treatises of the Heian period; the reception of these works in anecdotal collections of the Kamakura period (1192-1333), particularly those geared towards warriors; the use of humorous waka (kyôka), in particular those with satiric and parodic intent, in Muromachi-period (1333-1467) narratives for commoners; and the use of waka as pedagogical instruments
    [Show full text]
  • Eventeenth- Entury
    EVENTEENTH- ENTURY EWS SPRING - SUMMER 2005 Vol. 63 Nos. 1&2 Including THE NEO-LATIN NEWS Vol. 53, Nos. 1&2 SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NEWS VOLUME 63, Nos. 1&2 SPRING-SUMMER, 2005 SCN, an official organ of the Milton Society of America and of the Milton Section of the Modern Language Association, is published as a double issue two times each year with the support of the English Departments of: University of Akron Oklahoma State University Texas A&M University SUBMISSIONS: Though primarily a review journal, SCN publishes shorter articles and scholarly notes (3000 words). Manuscripts should be submitted in duplicate (with the author’s name and institutional affiliation on the cover page only), accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. As a service to the scholarly community, SCN also publishes news items. SUBSCRIPTIONS, Domestic and International. $20.00 ($25.00) for one year; $35.00 ($45.00) for two years; $50.00 ($65.00) for three years. Checks or money orders are payable to Seventeenth-Century News. A current style sheet, announce- ments, previous volumes’ Tables of Contents, advertising rates, and other infor- mation all may be obtained via our home page on the World Wide Web. Books for review and queries should be sent to: Prof. Donald R. Dickson English Department 4227 Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843-4227 E-Mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www-english.tamu.edu/pubs/scn/ ISSN 0037-3028 SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NEWS EDITOR DONALD R. DICKSON Texas A&M University EDITOR EMERITUS Harrison T. Meserole Texas A&M University ASSOCIATE EDITORS James Egan, University of Akron Jeffrey Walker, Oklahoma State University Michele Marrapodi, University of Palermo Patricia Garcia Ocañas, Our Lady of the Lake University EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Christopher E.
    [Show full text]
  • Always in Paradise
    C A T A L O G U E 6 5 W I L L I A M B L A K E Always in Paradise J O H N W I N D L E A N T I Q U A R I A N B O O K S E L L E R 49 Geary Street, Suite 233, San Francisco, California 94108 (415) 986-5826 | johnwindle.com | [email protected] “I have very little of Mr. Blake’s company; he is always in Paradise...” -Catherine Blake C A T A L O G U E 6 5 WILLIAM BLAKE Always in Paradise A Catalogue of Artwork and Books by and about Blake and his Circle JOHN WINDLE ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLER San Francisco 2017 TERMS: All items are guaranteed as described and may be returned within 5 days of receipt only if packed, shipped, and insured as received. Payment in US dollars drawn on a US bank, including state and local taxes as ap- plicable, is expected upon receipt unless otherwise agreed. Institutions may receive deferred billing and duplicates will be considered for credit. References or advance payment may be requested of anyone ordering for the first time. Postage is extra and will be via UPS. PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express are gladly accepted. Please also note that under standard terms of business, title does not pass to the purchaser until the purchase price has been paid in full. ILAB dealers only may deduct their reciprocal discount, provided the account is paid in full within 30 days; thereafter the price is net.
    [Show full text]
  • Recent Studies of Illustrations and Prints, Including Cartography, 1987
    Studies of Authorship in the Long 18th Century, c. 1988-2007 This bibliography covers that fuzzy intellectual focus called "authorship" and also the more distinct categories of attribution, book reviews, collaboration, copyright and literary property, plagiarism, profits, patronage, and subscriptions. Even the "distinct categories" gave me some trouble, for I wished to include studies of copyright and subscriptions that had a focus on the author (composer in some cases) rather than the publisher. I have a lengthy bibliography of "publishers and publishing" that I'm preparing for BIBSITE, and I wish to place studies that are more concerned with publishers under that file. I've also excluded those studies of topics like subscription that are focused on readers (like Donald D. Eddy and J. D. Fleeman's "A Preliminary Handlist of Books to which Dr. Samuel Johnson Subscribed," Studies in Bibliography, 46 (1993), 187-221, or on the work itself or its genre, such as Elisabel Larriba's analysis of 8500 subscribers to 18 periodicals in Le Public de la presse en Espagne à la fin du XVIIIe siècle (1781-1808) (Paris, Champion, 1998). I have included a few biographical studies particularly stressing authorship as a trade, there being too many biographies to include them in general (e.g., 1991 saw publication of Paul Hammond's John Dryden: A Literary Life, Joseph McMinn's Jonathan Swift: A Literary Life and James Sambrook's James Thomson, 1700-1748: A Life). Like editions of correspondence (often the best source on authorship but also omitted here), biographies aren't likely to be overlooked.
    [Show full text]
  • Rural Sports: the Poetry of Fishing, Fowling, and Hunting, 1650-1800
    Rural Sports: The Poetry of Fishing, Fowling, and Hunting, 1650-1800 Philip McKnight Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the PhD degree in English Department of English Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Philip McKnight, Ottawa, Canada, 2011 ii Table of Contents Acknowledgments...………………………………………………………………………….iii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………iv List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………v Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...1 Part 1. Fishing……………………………………………………………………………….30 Chapter 1. Izaak Walton and Angling Specialization……………………………………….31 Chapter 2. After Walton: The Happy Man and the Golden Age of Angling Verse in the 1690s…………………………………………………………...49 Chapter 3. Eighteenth-Century Translations, Imitations, and Experiments…………………80 Part 2. Hunting and Fowling……………………………………………………………….110 Chapter 4. Hunting Poetry in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century……………….111 Chapter 5. The Hunt in Early-Eighteenth-Century Poetry…………………………………133 Chapter 6. The Hunting Gentleman: William Somervile’s The Chace……………………159 Chapter 7. Fowling: Advances in Shooting Technology…………………………………..187 Chapter 8. Hunting and Humanitarianism in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century…………………………………………………………218 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….251 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………..256 iii Acknowledgments For his belief in me and in the project, I am eternally grateful to my thesis supervisor Frans De Bruyn. I would also like to thank the members of my examination committee – Raymond Stephanson, Ina Ferris, April London, and Nicholas Von Maltzahn – for their attentive and incisive reading of my work. Thank you to Norah Franklin for her careful copy- editing. I offer my deepest thanks to my friends and family for the love, support, and encouragement I have received. Thank you to my parents, Alan and Barbara, for instilling in me a sense of self-belief – I dedicate these pages to them.
    [Show full text]
  • Earl Roy Miner Papers, 1950
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt9k4009kp No online items Finding Aid for the Earl Roy Miner Papers, 1950- Processed by Manuscripts Division staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé and edited by Josh Fiala. UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Manuscripts Division Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/ © 2002 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Finding Aid for the Earl Roy Miner 821 1 Papers, 1950- Descriptive Summary Title: Earl Roy Miner Papers, Date (inclusive): 1950- Collection number: 821 Creator: Miner, Earl Roy Extent: 126 boxes (63.0 linear ft.)3 oversize boxes Abstract: Earl Roy Miner (1927- ) was born in Marshfield, Wisconsin. His published works include Japanese Court Poetry (1961) with Robert H. Brower, Japanese Poetic Diaries (1969), Seventeenth Century Imagery (ed. 1971), The Cavalier Mode from Jonson to Cotton (1971), English Criticism in Japan (ed. 1972), Stuart and Georgian Moments (1972), John Dryden (1973), Naming Properties: Nominal References in Travel Basho and Sora, Johnson and Boswell (1996). The collection includes manuscripts, correspondence, and various printed materials. Correspondents include Conrad Aiken, Richard Aldington, Ifor Evans, John Masefield, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, Thornton Wilder, and William Carlos Williams. Language: English Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections. Los Angeles, California 90095-1575 Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Rhythm the Poetics of a Literary Life Form
    Literary Studies Glaser “What does it mean, and what has it meant historically, to participate in verse’s Culler rhythmic patternings? This volume, with incandescent and defamiliarizing rhythms of its own, takes up rhythm as the central, ever-fugitive term in debates over sound and sense, the visible and the audible, the history of prosodic discourses, and methodological approaches to reading and performance. Reaching beyond the LIFE FORM A LITERARY THE POETICS OF Critical Rhythm Critical Rhythm metrical constraints of foot prosody to powers of rhythm generally left underexplored in Anglo-American criticism, the formidable array of scholars gathered here open up resonant inquiries into empirical, historical, ontological, phenomenological, and allegorical dimensions of rhythm in English-language verse of the past two centuries.” The Poetics of a Max Cavitch, University of Pennsylvania hythm constitutes an untapped resource for understanding poetry. Amid debates Literary Life Form Rover formalism, historicism, and poetics, this book reveals rhythm as a de- familiarizing aesthetic force yet an unstable concept. Distinct from the related terms to which it’s often assimilated—scansion, prosody, meter—rhythm makes legible a range of ways poetry affects us that cannot be parsed through the traditional resources of poetic theory. Rhythm has rich but also problematic roots in nineteenth-century notions of primitive, oral, communal, and sometimes racialized poetics. But there are reasons to understand and even embrace its seductions, including its resistance to lyrical voice and even identity. Warning against taking rhythm to refer to a given form, the essays press beyond poetry handbooks’ isolated descriptions of technique in order to ask what it means to think rhythm.
    [Show full text]
  • Waka After the Kokinshū: Anatomy of a Cultural Phenomenon By
    Waka After the Kokinshū: Anatomy of a Cultural Phenomenon by Gian Piero Persiani Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2013 Gian Piero Persiani All rights reserved ABSTRACT Waka After the Kokinshū: Anatomy of a Cultural Phenomenon Gian Piero Persiani This dissertation is a study of the boom of waka poetry in the mid-tenth century. Waka is approached here as a cultural phenomenon, that is, a complex system of people, practices, and ideas centering around the production, distribution, and consumption of cultural artifacts. Four main aspects of this system are examined: first, the network of people who, at various stages and in different ways, were involved in it. I identify three primary groups of agents (the poets, the patrons, and the public) and provide an analysis of each. Second, the body of ideas and beliefs that motivated and sustained involvement with waka as either poets, or patrons, or recipients. Third, the shared body of ingredients and skills that poets used to craft their works. Fourth and final, the criteria that contemporary audiences used to evaluate poems. Each chapter deals with a specific aspect. Chapter 1 and 2 provide a sort of bird’s eye view of the social world behind the waka phenomenon. Chapter 1 uses criteria such as social position and gender to present a typology of poets in tenth century court society. I distinguish between low-ranking poets who viewed waka as a potential pathway to career advancement, and high-ranking poets who used it mainly as a tool for conducting dalliances and as a marker of status.
    [Show full text]