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/lit/ - Literature

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2814075

Anonymous Mon Jul 16 14:08:12 2012 No.2814075 [Reply] [Original]

I'm considering reading an Eastern work like The Tale of Genji. What should I know before doing this?

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 14:11:12 2012 No.2814090 It's really long and mostly boring Read some Murakami or something

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 14:13:11 2012 No.2814094 Why would you start with that one? Have you never read an Eastern work before? Anyway, The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan by Ivan Morris is a good companion guide to it.

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 14:19:12 2012 No.2814109 >>2814094 >Why would you start with that one? Any reason not to?

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 14:21:07 2012 No.2814114 >>2814109 It's a classical, difficult, lengthy work that requires a lot of background to understand and appreciate. It's be like a foreigner starting to read english literature with the Canterbury Tales or something

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 14:30:07 2012 No.2814132 >>2814114 Can you name some starting points then?

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 15:21:01 2012 No.2814272 >>2814132 Why do you want to read something "Eastern" in the first place?

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 15:23:01 2012 No.2814279 >>2814272 >Why would you want to broaden your worldview by reading books that weren't written by westerners? Yes, how ridiculous.

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 15:24:01 2012 No.2814282 >>2814279 He was probably asking to get a feel for your reasons behind wanting to broaden those horizons. Or at least your taste. Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa is a modern starting point, if you like short stories.

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 15:29:01 2012 No.2814294 >>2814272 Mainly I just want to see a new cultural perspective. Also I was playing Shogun 2 and I realized that I know nothing about Japanese culture outside of LOL BANZAI SEPPUKU KAWAII.

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 15:34:01 2012 No.2814301 >>2814294 I stand by my Akutagawa rec. But if you're a fan of more action-oriented novels and want to learn more about the era around Shogun 2, Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa might interest you.

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 15:42:03 2012 No.2814318 People waving fans and heaving soulful sighs and exchanging nuanced little poems about flowers to get into little girls' pants all day long. Not hard to see where all the worst and most pretentious shit in modern Japanese culture has its roots.

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 15:45:37 2012 No.2814328 >>2814318 >Not hard to see where all the worst and most pretentious shit in modern Japanese culture has its roots. America, right?

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 15:47:37 2012 No.2814330 >>2814301 I forgot about Yoshikawa... he's not a great writer (or at least he doesn't translate well) but he's fairly engaging. Taikoki is arguably better than Musashi, and it will teach you a lot about the Sengoku period history.

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 19:21:42 2012 No.2814898 >>2814294 If you are interested in samurai period better watch Kurosawa movies.

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 19:23:42 2012 No.2814903 File: 2.84 MB, 1900x4194, japanese literature.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>2814294 My personal favourite authors: Mishima Yukio Natsume Souseki Shusaku Endo Abe Kobo

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 19:26:42 2012 No.2814911 >>2814903 Endo? He`s fucking shit

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 19:30:43 2012 No.2814917 lots of misogyny

>>	Anonymous Mon Jul 16 19:34:43 2012 No.2814927 >>2814075 You should know Japanese and Japanese history.