Haikai is both a specific poetic genre and a particular mode of discourse, an attitude toward language, literature, and tradition. It is an approach that is most prominently displayed in linked verse, the seventeen-syllable hokku (later called haiku), haibun (haikai prose), and haiga (haikai painting) but also pervaded much of Edo period culture and literature. Haikai, which originated in the medieval period and peaked in the Edo period, grew out of the interaction between the vernacular and the classical language, between the new popular, largely urban, commoner- and samurai-based culture and the residual classical tradition, with its refined aristocratic associations, which haikai parodied, transformed, and translated into contemporary language and form. Haikai imagination, which took pleasure in the juxtposition and collision of these two seemingly incongruous worlds and languages, humorously inverted and recast established cultural associations and conventions, particularly the "poetic essence" (hon'i) of classical poetic topics.
To which I would add that one of the watchwords of comic linked verse was variation. Purveyors of the form favored a kind of code switching, which could manifest itself in quick transitions of tone, topic, or perspective.
Last week we saw this aesthetic vision at work in Life of an Amorous Woman. Can you also detect traces of Saikaku's poetic experience in the composition of Great Mirror? How do the different features of the haikai aesthetic, described above, present themselves in the content, tone, and structure of this work?
2. As Akira mentioned in section, Saikaku is generally regarded as a satirical writer. This satirical attitude is readily apparent in his opening "defense" of nanshoku (male love), which can hardly be interpreted as a serious argument about anything. How does the satirical opening set the stage for the subsequent vignette's about male-male sexuality? What does it suggest about Saikaku's views of human nature in general, and masculinity and femininity in particular? Does he maintain this satirical tone consistently throughout the work or does he turn it on and off depending on the specific context he is writing about?
3. What other literary and cultural influences can you find in this collection?
4. There is a great deal of variation in the style of the vignettes. Some, like "A Sword His Only Memento," have a clear plot structure, while others, like "Nails Hammered into an Amateur Painting," are more atmospheric with little story to speak of. Why the variation? And what do you think Saikaku is trying achieve with these different approaches toward writing about male-male sexuality?
5. In his introduction, Schalow notes Saikaku's status as one of Japan's first realist writers. What would you point to as realistic in terms of style and content?
6. What features of the text deviate from our current understanding of realism?
7. Is there something particularly realistic or unrealistic about the representation of sexuality in this text?
8. It's impossible to deny the virulent misogyny of this text. What is the function of the criticism of women? What role does it play in the larger agenda of the text? How is it expressed, both explicitly and implicitly? Is it an effective tool? Should we take it seriously? Is it possible to imagine an Edo period woman reading and enjoying this text?
9. Given the narrative's focus on male-male sexuality, masculinity obviously plays a key role in the text. How is masculinity depicted? What are the different categories of men? How do they differ from each other? Are there any universally shared masculine traits that transcend class differences? Are there distinct masculine virtues? How do boys differ from women?
10. Sexuality is the central topic of this text. How is nanshoku depicted in toto? What are the key differences between the expression of nanshoku in a samurai context and a urban commoner context? Does the narrator's attitude differ depending on the social context? Are there noticeable differences in the form, tone, or style of the samurai episodes and the commoner episodes? Given what you know about Saikaku's own social status, how do you think this affects his depiction of the two types of nanshoku?
11. How is nanshoku in Great Mirror distinguished from the depiction of joshoku in Life of an Amorous Woman? How is the female protagonist of the LOAW different from the male characters in Great Mirror? What about the focus on a single female character versus the more panoramic approach of Great Mirror?
12. A related question: it is commonly acknowledged that most of Saikaku's early work focused on the experience of women, even in works ostensibly organized around male protagonists. Great Mirror marks an important departure from this pattern. Indeed, one could argue that in this work Saikaku explores a sexual culture that in many respects is foreign to him. Can you detect evidence of this "outsider" perspective in the form or content of the material?
13. From a modern vantage point, the sexuality in Great Mirror borders on pedophilia. How does the narrative deal with this issue? Does it address the inherent power differential between the two partners? How? Does it assume that the younger partner experiences the relationship differently from the adult partner?
14. Emotion (ninjô), obligation (giri), and desire (iro) are key terms in the Edo period lexicon of human relationships. What role do each of these terms play in the representation of nanshoku? How does it vary between the two principal categories of nanshoku? Is a perfect unity of these principles presented as an achievable goal? How do acts of suicide and mutilation fit into this triangular dynamic?
15. Schalow mentions the existence of an earlier partial English translation of this text, titled Comrade Love of Samurai (1928). This actually was one of the earliest Japanese texts to be translated into English. It played a key role in the early 20th century gay rights movement. Why would Western gay rights activists choose this text? Why would they focus on the samurai tales? What potential problems would this text present for their movement?
No comments:
Post a Comment