Mapping the Ancient World

Hi class, tomorrow we will discuss about Essays in Idleness, which is written by Yoshida Kenko. Essays in Idleness is a collection of  kenko’s observations  on everyday things and his thoughts concerning life, death,  musing, design and art , as well as, other topics of importance (Buddha). keno’s Essays in Idleness  is written randomly and each essay’s length from one sentence to several paragraphs,  thus I will focused on section#10 , 74 and #82.

The scholarly article I found is:

The Japanese Idea of Beauty

Author:Donald Keene

In the article the author explains event in contemporary  Tokyo where Japanese culture are threatening by western culture such McDonald, KFC, but Japan’s traditions in art,  theater, and literature still influence everyday life. The author uses Essays in Idleness to explain the sense of beauty and central elements in all of Japanese culture.

Note: titles of works should be in either italics or underlined:

Tosa Diary

-Think about Tosa Diary in terms of genre: In other words, what genre does this text fit into? How does its form relate to its historical context (you’ll need some background information for this).

-Nature is an important theme in the poems that occur throughout Tosa Diary. Using the poems, show how nature relates to the overall mood of the text. Do the poems affect the text’s mood?

-The prose and poetry of this text are clearly related through plot (i.e. different characters speak the poems for varying reasons). Thinking more deeply into the text’s meaning, consider how the prose affects our understanding of the poems.

-Tosa Diary is written by a male author but told through a female perspective. How does this gender switch and this perspective affect the text?

1. Explore the relationship of nature and human action in The Pillow Book. To do this, you will need to look at descriptions of nature alongside descriptions of human actions. Are there any moments that bring together human action and nature? What role does nature play in human action?

Thesis/answer example:

Nature is an important theme throughout the text. Although it might seem that nature and human action are separated throughout the text (are very different, are in separate spheres) in fact Shonagon reflects on her life specifically through descriptions of nature. Elaborate on the thesis statement, paying attention to the ‘so what question.’ What are the implications of this?

2. How does cultural context and/or historical context influence the text? How does cultural/historical context affect / influence Shonagon’s text? This question requires background research.

3. In this question you should think about the theme of freedom in the text (this is a broad theme so you can interpret it as you see fit). Here are some ideas: you can look at Shonagon’s freedom to write down her thoughts and feelings, her freedom within her society, etc. You will want to think about the meaning and purpose of personal expression here, and come up with an argument about its meaning in the text.

4. In this question, you should think about Shonagon’s gender and class position within society. Make an argument about how gender and/or class is represented in this text. You may want to bring in the article we briefly looked at together in class (available on JStor): Watching Commoners, Performing Class: Images of the Common People in The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.

5. What is the role of satire and/or humor in The Pillow Book? Make an argument in which you consider the purpose, meaning, use of satire and/or humor in the text.

Hello everyone,

My discussion is on Sei Shonagon’s, The Pillow Book. It is a dairy-style work of literature that shares the moments of Shonagon’s life during the Heian Period, under the rule of Empress Teishi. We will look closer on her experiences and how it relates and differs from our own. Furthermore, we will be analyzing the significance of her stories and how it helps us see, hear, and feel the world around us. I would also like you to consider how literature, art, and music played a vital role during the Heian era. Can these things still be considered important today?

The article provided below titled “Sei Shonagon and The Matsushima Diary” by R. Keller Kimbrough, describes the life of Shonagon after the death of Empress Teishi. Shonagon greatly admired the Empress, thus her demise had a strong impact on Sei Shonagon. The article mentions speculations of her “latter years as having been marked by adversity.”  It is proposed that “she lived on as an impoverished nun, suffering hardship and humiliation,” one example was when “Sei Shonagon was staying with Master Kiyohara when Lord Yorimitsu sent his Four Guardian Kings to strike him down. The men wanted to kill her because she looked like a priest. ‘I’m a nun,’ she said, and immediately showed them her privates.” A comparison can be made from the once proud Sei Shonagon being humiliated, and reduced to exposing herself. However, these are just surmises, not much is truly known of her latter years.

Sei Shonagon and The Matsushima Diary

I look forward to our discussion.

Hello class,

Tommorow I will be presenting The Pillow Book, which is written by Sei Shonagon. This book is her personal diary about her growing up in the capital and expressing her emotions that she was feeling on a daily basis. I will be focusing on how the author changes her tone throughout her writings. She starts her writing in The times of year, and she uses the word “delightful” a bunch of times; we see from there that her tone starts off very graceful. Then we look at Dispiriting things, and we see that her tone really switches to an unhappy nature.

In my scholarly article, I look at what is going on towards the end of Sei Shonagon’s life to see why her tone switches completely. In the article  it talks about what happens after the Teishi empress passed away, she was very sad. Pretty much after this time, it is unknown as to what had happened to her.

http://www.jstor.org.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/stable/3096710

Hi class. Tomorrow I will deliver the second presentation regarding Lu Ji’s “The Poetic Exposition on Literature. We will discuss the elements and difficulties of writing which are related in the text. This includes things such as

• The psychology of writing
• Brainstorming
• Word Choice
• Structure Development
• Originality
• Relating Concepts
• Constrictions
• Fear of Criticism
• Inspirations
• Purpose

I would also like you to consider your own writing. Think about your particular strengths. What difficulties do you face while writing? How do you resolve these issues? In what ways can you identify with Lu Ji and in what ways do you think differently?

We may not be able to discuss all of them, but bear these ideas in mind for the discussion. We will explore an article “The Twilight of the Masters: Masters Literature (Zishu) in Early Medieval China” by Xiaofei Tian (link below), in which we will examine the style of writing of Lu Ji and other contemporary writers.

Most fascinating to note about this poetic exposition is the way in which the writing actually embodies what the author is trying to communicate. Each step and conflict in the writing process can actually be identified within the writing itself.

I am looking forward to our discussion tomorrow.

http://www.jstor.org.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/stable/20064538?seq=1&Search=yes&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fc4%3DAND%26amp%3Bq5%3D%26amp%3Bla%3D%26amp%3Bf5%3Dall%26amp%3Bed%3D%26amp%3Bq4%3D%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bc1%3DAND%26amp%3Bf6%3Dall%26amp%3Bq0%3Dlu%2Bji%2Btwilight%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bf1%3Dall%26amp%3Bc5%3DAND%26amp%3Bq2%3D%26amp%3Bf2%3Dall%26amp%3Bc3%3DAND%26amp%3Bc6%3DAND%26amp%3Bf0%3Dall%26amp%3Bf3%3Dall%26amp%3Bc2%3DAND%26amp%3Bq3%3D%26amp%3Bpt%3D%26amp%3Bisbn%3D%26amp%3Bsd%3D%26amp%3Bf4%3Dall%26amp%3Bq6%3D%26amp%3Bq1%3D&prevSearch=&resultsServiceName=null

Today we discussed about Du Fu’ s life and poems. As we now Du Fu was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty along with Li Bo. He became famous because he was able to capture the historical events of his period. Du Fu dreamed of an official career but he stop trying since he failed the civil service examination. He eventually made his way to the court when An Lusham rebelled in 155, Fu obtained the court position he always wanted, But later, after the recapture of the capital he was exiled to a minor provincial post. He was upset and that is how he started a lifetime of travels.

We discussed two of Du Fu’s poems,  “Moonlight Night” which he wrote thinking on how his wife was feeling during his absence, but not only her, we can also see how he is feeling and how much he desires to come back home. the other poem is ” Quians Village”, this one talks about his homecoming. Express how exited him and his family were, snd even his neighbors, He never thought he would make it home and alive, and finally reunited with his family

In class today we discussed, how accurate a translation of a piece of literature really is. I discussed the poem Ch’ang Kan by Li Po, which has three different translations. The scholarly article which I used is all posted on the blog by the professor. The main point I was trying to show was how a piece of work which is translated could have many different versions. In all three poems there are some differences in the way it is formatted as well as how it is translated. In poem 1 and 2 it says green plums, and in poem three it says blue plums. As some of the native speakers helped us understand, that the real color is really turquoise and not what it says in the translation. The main part of the discussion was when a translator, translates something from another language how accurate is the translation, and how much of it is from what the translator wants to insert.
You could find the three poems by clicking HERE
The scholarly article could be found by clicking HERE
An original copy of the poem (in Chinese) could be found by clicking HERE

Tags: Poetry, Translation

In class today we looked at example close readings to think about / better understand what exactly makes an effective one. Here’s what we came up with:

First, here’s a link to Baruch’s writing center. I recommend you make an appointment if you’re struggling with your work.

http://writingcenter.baruch.cuny.edu/

Close reading tips:

*Integration of quotes and analyzing quotes

*Check grammar

*analysis — spend time explaining yourself and your ideas and make sure your meaning is clear

*Your primary focus is the passage itself, but you can make connections to the rest of the text

This is the third play of The Oresteia. In this story Orestes is being judged for the murder of his mother Clytaemnestra who killed his father Agamemnon. Orestes killed his mother as an act of vengeance but at the same time he was encouraged by Apollo. The trial of Orestes was addressed by Athena, who was trying to find justice at all time. On the other hand, “The Furies”, the goddess of vengeance, want to punish Orestes and Apollo was defending the murder with very “interesting” reasons.

I would like to focus my discussion in the most important element of this story: justice. Should be Orestes punished for this crime? And more important, how can be he get away with murder?

Scholar Article

“The Problem of the Eumenides of Aeschylus”

The central argument of this article is that the author does not have any adequate ground for Orestes’ acquittal. According to the article in this story there is not trace of grace, pity or higher justice.

Author: R. W. Livingstone

Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 45, Part 1 (1925), pp. 120-131

http://www.jstor.org/stable/624909