Worlding SEI Shagon: The Pillow Book in Translation (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780776607283)

The Makura no Shi, or The Pillow Book as it is generally known in English, is a collection of personal reflections and anecdotes about life in the Japanese royal court composed around the turn of the eleventh century by a woman known as Sei Shagon. Its opening section, which begins haru wa akebono, or "spring, dawn," is arguably the single most famous passage in Japanese literature. Throughout its long life, The Pillow Book has been translated countless times. It has captured the European imagination with its lyrical style, compelling images and the striking personal voice of its author. Worlding Sei Shagon guides the reader through the remarkable translation history of The Pillow Book in the West, gathering almost fifty translations of the "spring, dawn" passage, which span one-hundred-and-thirty-five years and sixteen languages.

Many of the translations are made readily available for the first time in this study. The versions collected in Worlding Sei Shagon are an enlightening example of the many ways in which translations can differ from their source text, undermining the idea of translation as the straightforward transfer of meaning from one language to another, one culture to another.

Published in English.

Author: Valerie Henitiuk
ISBN-10: 0776607286
ISBN-13: 9780776607283
Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
Language: English
Published: 06/16/2012
Pages: 330
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.70w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2013