Ihara Saikaku, from Life of a Sensuous Woman: The narrator’s various and often contradictory relationships with men compels Saikaku to present several kinds of ambiguity.
Many of you point out the ambiguity of her “profession;” sometimes it seems like clear prostitution, as some of you noted with the priest (although Zeyu points out that the narrator is, literally, the priest’s “temporary wife,” and that she actually experiences a kind of true marriage with him). At other times, as many of you noted, the narrator doesn’t seem to be a prostitute in the traditional sense. When it is not exactly prostitution, or at least when she seems to be happy about what she’s doing, often there is another ambiguity, between sexual pleasure and “love.” Questions: Does the narrator know the difference between love and lust? Is the narrator “emotionally involved”? (Kelly’s term)
Contrarily, other comments point to the narrator’s indifference and detachment in what she is doing, that she is simply an opportunist. Question: if you feel this way, could she have revised her lifestyle to lead a more fulfilling life, even as a prostitute?
There is an interesting comment that the narrator is actually the aggressive party in most relationships, and this is quite an interesting observation. Question for everyone: Is the narrator actually a victim? Another comment suggests that the narrator turns a negative situation in a positive one. Is she simply making the best out of a situation, or is she a manipulator (as other comments suggested)?
Others point out the narrator’s (some of you don’t think it’s sincere) guilt at the end of the last tale. Questions that arise here are: Is her guilt indeed sincere? Is this really the first time she regretted her life? If you do feel your regret is sincere, is she regretting her prostitution? Her enjoyment, at times, of her career? Of her never actually having found love (or did she?)?
Ultimately, did the narrator have a fulfilling life? Does she seem mostly happy or unhappy?