Realms of literacy : early Japan and the history of writing / David B. Lurie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lurie, David Barnett.

Series:

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 335.

Harvard East Asian monographs

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japanese language--Writing--History.

Japanese language.

Japanese language--Writing.

History.

Chinese characters--Japan.

Chinese characters.

Writing.

Written communication.

Japan.

Written communication--Japan--History.

Writing--Japan--History.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 497 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Asia Center : Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2011.

Summary:

Beyond simply investigating the "when" of writing in Japan and of writing in the Japanese language, Lurie (Japanese history & literature, Columbia U.) emphasizes in his introduction that he's interested in the complexities and broader ramifications of the subject. He states: "Deeper understanding of early Japanese inscription will transform comparative discussions of literacy and reading practices, and remake our sense of the wider patterns of the world history of writing systems." This study investigates such topics as the "importance of 'unread' texts, the pragmatic contexts and varied natures of multiple simultaneous literacies, the relations between languages and systems of inscription, and the aesthetic dimensions of writing." Harvard University Asia Center published the book; distribution is by Harvard U. Press. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

Part I Literacy and Power 13

1 Shards of Writing?: Early Fragments and the Nature of Literacy 15

The Hirota Shell Artifact 17

Writing Lessons: The Politics of Plural Literacies 20

Great Discovery or Just a Smudge? 40

Coins and Contexts 52

Mirroring Text 56

2 Kings Who Did Not Read: Scribes and the Projection of Power from the First to the Sixth Century CE 67

Peripheral Diplomacy and the Inscription of the 'Chinese World Order' 69

Writing Between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago 83

Scribes in Service to the Yamato Kings (Fifth-Sixth Centuries CE) 88

Court Scribes in Early Japanese Histories 105

3 A World Dense with Writing: Expanding Literacies in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries 115

The Emergence of New Literacies in the Mid-Seventh Century 119

Buddhism and Writing 131

Context, Material, and the Breadth of Early Japanese Writing 150

Part II Writing and Language 167

4 Kundoku: Reading, Writing, and Translation in a Single Script 169

Language and Writing in Chinese and Japanese 170

Back to the Beginning? The Seventh and Eighth Centuries 184

Early Korea and the Spread of an 'East Asian' Script 195

A Variety More Stylistic than Linguistic 204

5 Governing in Prose: Written Style in the Kojiki and Nihon shoki 213

Parallel Inscriptions in the Main Hall of Hōryūji 214

A Vernacular Voice for Ancient Matters: The Kojiki 225

Localizing a Universal Rhetoric: The Nihon Shoki 232

Written Style and Authority in the Eighth Century 242

6 The Poetry of Writing: The Man'yōshū and Its Contexts 254

Flowers of Naniwa: Spelling Verse Syllable by Syllable 261

The Diversity of Writing in the Man'yōshū 268

Context, Choice, and Stylistic Difference 287

7 Japan and the History of Writing 312

Writing and Language in Japanese Culture 313

Overcoming the Bilingual Fallacy 323

The Extended Nature of the 'Chinese' Script 334

The Latin of East Asia? 342

Myths of Efficiency and the Diversity of Literacies 353

Envisioning a World History of Writing 357.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0674060652

9780674060654

OCLC:

676725377