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E-book
Author Laffin, Christina, author.

Title Rewriting medieval Japanese women : politics, personality, and literary production in the life of Nun Abutsu / Christina Laffin
Published Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press, [2013]

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 270 pages) : illustrations
Contents Nun Abutsu and women's writing in medieval Japan -- A woman's guide to career success : Nun Abutsu and court life in The nursemaid's letter -- Lover and nun : embodying the heroine in Fitful slumbers -- Women and the way : Nun Abutsu as poet and Genji scholar -- Politics and poetry : Diary of the sixteenth night moon as a literary appeal
Summary This book explores the world of thirteenth-century Japan through the life of a prolific noblewoman known as Nun Abutsu (1225-1283). Abutsu crossed gender and genre barriers by writing the first career guide for Japanese noblewomen, the first female-authored poetry treatise, and the first poetic travelogue by a woman - all despite the increasingly limited social mobility for women during the Kamakura era (1185-1336). Capitalizing on her literary talent and political prowess, Abutsu rose from middling origins and single-motherhood to a prestigious marriage and membership in an esteemed literary lineage. Abutsu's life is well documented in her own letters, diaries, and commentaries, as well as in critiques written by rivals, records of poetry events, and legal documents. Drawing on these and other literary and historiographical sources, including The Tale of Genji, the author demonstrates how medieval women responded to institutional changes that transformed their lives as court attendants, wives, and nuns. Despite increased professionalization of the arts, competition over sources of patronage, and rivaling claims to literary expertise, Abutsu proved her poetic capabilities through her work and often used patriarchal ideals of femininity to lay claim to political and literary authority. This book challenges notions that literary salons in Japan were a phenomenon limited to the Heian period (794-1185) and that literary writing and scholarship were the domain of men during the Kamakura era. Its analysis of literary works within the context of women's history makes clear the important role that medieval women and their cultural contributions continued to play in Japanese history
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
In English
Print version record
digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Subject Abutsu-ni, approximately 1209-1283 -- Criticism and interpretation
Abutsu-ni, approximately 1209-1283
SUBJECT Abutsu-ni, approximately 1209-1283 fast
Abutsu-ni 1222-1283 gnd
Subject Women authors, Japanese -- 1185-1600.
LITERARY CRITICISM -- Asian -- General.
HISTORY -- Asia -- Japan.
Women authors, Japanese
Politischer Wandel Motiv
Frauenliteratur
Japanisch
Weiblicher Adel Motiv
Literaturproduktion Motiv
Schriftstellerin
Genre/Form Electronic books
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 0824837851
9780824837853
9780824871215
0824871219