The Book Thread

[Konrad]

I've been reading through book versions of The History of Philosophy because while it's engaging, it does help me get to sleep. Just enough names and high concepts to help you nod off between the giraffe jokes.

I've also been reading The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon because my Crusade for the Vadinax campaign is an extended Sei Shonagon bit. The problem is that I really like her, even though she was probably insufferable in person, and the book keeps me awake.

I should try reading "The Pillow Book". I've read "Genji" (in translation) and found it really interesting, just as a historical window into court life and the, if not real life, the ideals of the time. It has to be an idealized version. These people are utterly useless and do literally nothing all day. No one is trying to kill anyone, nothing much more dangerous than high-school, just lonely hearts....my pillow rots from the salt of my tears.....Genji is probably the source of every romance novel in the way "The Illiad" is the source of every epic adventure story. Now that is something every nerd should read.

[Jye Nicolson]

The Pillow Book is pretty idealised too, and Shonagon definitely dances around the edges of the politics (she doesn't go into depth as to why things went bad for Teishi for example, at least as far in as I am), but it is a first hand account of things happening to real people. Mostly it's to show how witty Teishi's court and their friends were (especially Shonagon, their star), which was more or less their job; certainly wielding power wasn't unless you were a dude named Fujiwara.

It's a brisker read than Genji, being random observations and anecdotes. This also means I'm not losing much reading it in random grabs. I enjoyed Genji but I hated the main character, as mentioned I find Shonagon quite charming in spite of the thing being mostly about how cleverly she can reference poems I've never heard of.

It all definitely makes the "ornamental courts while someone else runs the show" theme of Japanese history very plausible

[Konrad]

The Pillow Book is pretty idealised too, and Shonagon definitely dances around the edges of the politics (she doesn't go into depth as to why things went bad for Teishi for example, at least as far in as I am), but it is a first hand account of things happening to real people. Mostly it's to show how witty Teishi's court and their friends were (especially Shonagon, their star), which was more or less their job; certainly wielding power wasn't unless you were a dude named Fujiwara.

It's a brisker read than Genji, being random observations and anecdotes. This also means I'm not losing much reading it in random grabs. I enjoyed Genji but I hated the main character, as mentioned I find Shonagon quite charming in spite of the thing being mostly about how cleverly she can reference poems I've never heard of.

It all definitely makes the "ornamental courts while someone else runs the show" theme of Japanese history very plausible

"The Floating World" that term comes from "The Pillow Book" right? I've heard that term used to describe the idea that court life is quite literally detached from the "real" world, untouched and unspoiled by design.
I love the scene in "Genji" where Genji, now the chief chamberlain and basically in charge of the palace, is having the Emperor's son (spoiler, actually Genji's son), taking lessons and being tutored.
The dowager Empress, the boy's grandmother comes storming in just livid. To paraphrase, "Lessons?! Study? This is the Crown Prince, the heir to the Son of Heaven. And you have him studying like some commoner trying to pass a civil service exam? What are you thinking? He doesn't have to know anything. Everything that exists, exists to serve him. "
The Emperor, and by extension the Crown Prince do nothing because everything, everything is beneath them. The very idea that the Emperor to be would be making even the slightest effort do do anything was an affront not just to the dignity of the court, but an affront to the very cosmic order. It's absolutely crazy to the modern mind.

[Jye Nicolson]

It's one of the reasons Emperor Meiji on the other side is so interesting because he was suddenly doing *not that* (though with all the old Satsuma and Choshuu boys still mostly calling the shots).