A Poetics of Courtly Male Friendship in Heian Japan

Paul Gordon Schalow

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2007

A Poetics of Courtly Male Friendship in Heian Japan

Paul Gordon Schalow

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824861285

Overview
Contents

About this book

Western scholars have tended to read Heian literature through the prism of female experience, stressing the imbalance of power in courtship and looking for evidence that women hoped to move beyond the constraints of marriage politics. Paul Schalow’s original and challenging work inherits these concerns about the transcendence of love and carries them into a new realm of inquiry—the suffering of noblemen and the literary record of their hopes for transcendence through friendship. He traces this recurring theme, which he labels "courtly male friendship," in five important literary works ranging from the tenth-century Tale of Ise to the early eleventh-century Tale of Genji.

Whether authored by men or women, the depictions of male friendship addressed in this work convey the differing perspectives of male and female authors profoundly shaped by their gender roles in the court aristocracy. Schalow’s analysis clarifies in particular how Heian literature articulates the nobleman’s wish to be known and appreciated fully by another man.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Poems to Sing and the Hope for Transcendence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	6
Chapter 2. Paradigms of Friendship in the Tale of Ise Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
Chapter 3. Poetic Sequences in the Kagerō Diary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
Chapter 4. The Tale of Genji: “Two Cranes Flying Wing to Wing” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
Chapter 5. The Uji Chapters: “Maidens of the Bridge” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Afterword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 232

eBook

Published: December 31, 2006
ISBN: 9780824861285