Parody, irony and ideology in the fiction of Ihara Saikaku / by David J. Gundry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gundry, David J., author.

Series:

Brill's Japanese studies library ; v. 58.

Brill's Japanese studies library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ihara, Saikaku, 1642-1693--Criticism and interpretation.

Ihara, Saikaku.

Ihara, Saikaku, 1642-1693.

Parody.

Irony in literature.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xiii, 300 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2017]

Summary:

The first monograph published in English on Ihara Saikaku's fiction, David J. Gundry's lucid, compelling study examines the tension reflected in key works by Edo-period Japan's leading writer of "floating world" literature between the official societal hierarchy dictated by the Tokugawa shogunate's hereditary status-group system and the era's de facto, fluid, wealth-based social hierarchy. The book's nuanced, theoretically engaged explorations of Saikaku's narratives' uses of irony and parody demonstrate how these often function to undermine their own narrator's intermittent moralizing. Gundry also analyzes these texts' depiction of the fleeting pleasures of love, sex, wealth and consumerism as Buddhistic object lessons in the illusory nature of phenomenal reality, the mastery of which leads to a sort of enlightenment.

Contents:

1 Aspirations Above Their Station: The Life of an Amorous Man 40

Introduction 40

Part 1 Haikai, Parody and Social Mobility 45

"The Sumptuous Poem-Coat" 45

"A Kiss in a Cup in a Basket" 53

"Taikomochi Letting Their Hair Down" 58

"Fresh as First-Picked Tea" 62

Part 2 Brothels High and Low 75

"They Couldn't Recognize a Stylish Man" 75

"Her Backside Aimed in His Direction" 78

Part 3 A Love with Illustrious Precedents: Shudo in Amorous Man 84

"His Sleeves Damp from an Opportune Shower" 85

"The Bedding in a Clay Hut" 91

"The Whoosh from a Sword in a Dream" 96

Part 4 The Plight of Women and of (Male and Female) Prostitutes 99

The Roving Libertine 99

"A Secret Stash of Cash" 103

"Now They Call Her 'Ma'am'" 108

Part 5 Sailing Out 110

"Dolls from the Capital" 110

The Enlightened Libertine 115

2 Chonin High and Low: Five Women Who Loved Love 117

Introduction 117

"The Story of Seijuro in Himeji" 118

"The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love" 129

"What the Seasons Brought the Almanac Maker" 135

"The Greengrocer's Daughter with a Bundle of Love" 145

"Gengobei, the Mountain of Love" 150

3 Paragons of Wickedness: Twenty Cases of Filial Impiety in Japan 159

Introduction 159

Brothel Quarter Wastrels 165

A Serial Divorcée: "Her Trousseau Held in a Battered Trunk" 167

Charismatic Villains 171

"A Fine Kettle of Fish" 171

"I Am a Traveling Monk, Wandering Through the Gathering Dusk" 178

The Duty to Procreate 183

"Girls and Cherry Blossoms Fallen in Their Prime" 183

"Competitive Storytelling Was His New Amusement" 187

"An Untoward Pride in His Own Strength" 190

4 The Brave, the Bad and the Ridiculous: Exemplary Tales of the Way of the Warrior 197

Introduction 197

Part 1 Samurai Behaving Badly 203

"Climbing a Tree to the Height of Indiscretion" 203

"The Four-Legged Walking Foot-Warmer" 208

"A Swordsman Struck Down with Poisoned Sake" 213

"He Took Her, Sight Unseen, Then Ran Amok on Their Wedding Night" 216

"A Man's Handwriting from a Woman's Hand" 219

Part 2 Shudo High and Low 225

"Women Who Played the Bamboo Flute with Secret Intent" 225

"Heartstrings Plucked on Lake Biwa" 231

"Dueling Flames of Passion Raise Smoke on the Funereal Incense Altar" 238

"A Youth in His Prime, Splendid as the Bush Clover In Miyagino" 242

"'Tis Pity His Forelocks Have Scattered before the Wind off Mt Hakone" 244

"Koto Music in a Clay Hut Where One Would Expect to Hear the Pounding of a Stone Mortar Instead" 246

"Hunting Early Mushrooms Sows the Seeds of Love" 250

"The Investigation Turned Up a Striped Hakama" 256

Samurai and Chonin 261.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Gundry, David J. author. Parody, irony and ideology in the fiction of Ihara Saikaku

ISBN:

9789004343054

9004343059

OCLC:

974857782