Best Japanese Literary Criticism
Lady Shonagon was an erstwhile rival of Lady Murasaki, whose novel, The Tale of Genji , fictionalized the elite world Lady Shonagon so eloquently relates. The Pillow Book is one of the three most important works of its kind in Japanese literature, and Professor Morris has given it handsome treatment. The liveliest and most endearing of Heian writers, and the one who gives the most intimate and vivid picture of life at court.... Its denizens emerge as real and never-to-be-forgotten people.... Morris belongs to the literary rather than the literal school of translators, and his talents are shown here at their best. Shonagon comes through vividly.... [Morris] has given us for the first time in full a delightful and fascinating book which is also a work of notable scholarship.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Besides learning about life in Japanese court from ancient times you will realize that life is the same for people from thousand years ago and us."
"McKinney has impeccable academic/linguistic credentials, and was more scrupulous in compiling her source material (not leaving things out as I recall that Morris did--readers can skip whatever isn't interesting to them, which I think is far preferable)."
"Best segments: her 3-star review of bad boyfriends, her lists of random pretty poetical crap she liked, and her funny critique of middle-aged married couples taking afternoon "naps.""
"It quickly revealed an unknown world of absolute beauty and a life lived as art to my young mind, a world in which the mere examination of a particular color of a mountaintop at sunset or the blink of a firefly winging its way through the first moments of a misty dusk, the small tragedy of a fire reduced to dying embers, are interpreted and elevated to their proper place as the miracles of a life well-observed. She freely and whole-heartedly chronicles the daily doings of palace life, unfettered and uncensored--she wrote in secret, living with the dire danger that she be found out--from the grandest and most complex internecine details of royal ceremonies and celebrations to the delicious gossip of secret romantic affairs of high and low society. I enjoy simply letting it fall open to any random page, allowing myself a few minutes or several hours of sheer pleasure. For writers of any sort, or for anyone for whom reading is more than a pleasure but necessary to one's routine, The Pillow Book will become a touchstone, indeed an anchor and a shield against the unpleasantries of modern culture. The absurdities of the mundane, glamour, the glorious beauty of the infinite within the small, the evil that permeates and remains shrouded within structured societies but does not destroy us, has never been captured so rapturously and with such a rigorous eye."
Essential functions and situations, and simple sentence patterns.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Pros: Easy to read material. Well organized flow. Good quality laminate. Cons: None to me."
"great product, recommended, great value for the price..."
"Good package and merchandise arrived as promised."
"Great to have in your binder when you forget grammar or vocab."
"This can be pretty handy for a beginner like me."
"This is a great study guide to use but it does not have Kanji translations."
"got it for a friend and they really liked it."
"My children are learning the Japanese language in school, and feel that this chart will be very helpful!"
In seventeenth-century Japan, the wandering poet Basho developed haiku, a seventeen-syllable poetic form now perhaps the most widely written type of poetry in the world. Absolutely no prior interest in poetry is necessary to take from Hirshfield's essay the inspiration to drop everything, walk out in to the wide world, open your eyes, and find out for yourself that "even the briefest form of poetry can have a wing-span of immeasurable breadth."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Jane Hirshfield's Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry, a series of deep but approachable, gentle but commanding essays on poetry, is my favorite book on literature of all time."
"Overwhelming because of the possibilities & suppleness of the verse, the beauty of the visual imagery, & the perceptions that permeate your senses. She takes us through a mollifying journey of the poet's life & points out how his circumstance changed affected his verse. She, like Basho, stays away from the dramatic & displays remarkable composure in stitching this story of remarkable beauty & pathos."
"I've been reading Basho & other Haiku masters for years, but Hirshfield in this essay has created an illumination of Basho much as Basho's haiku poems illuminate the moments & places where they came to rest. I started reading this book around 3am, planning to read a few pages & off to sleep... but Hirshfield managed to make a must read cliff-hanger out of Basho's life & development as one of the world's greatest poets."
"It's inevitable to don't end loving deeply to Bashō and feel a calmness to enter a spirit so kind that talks to us intimately."
"A little book, it is a window to the art, life, and essence of Bashō, a poet eternally tied to haiku form."
"This authoritative yet unpretentious and engaging introduction to haiku, especially the work of Basho, is a gem."
"As an author of haiku myself (I have some. in my poetry collection Carry On Dancing and some in Leap ) I'm always looking to learn how the Great haiku artists treat the genre, and what we can learn from haiku."
"A riveting biography of Basho and a brilliant examination of the history and nature of haiku, this short book contains more than most books ten times longer."
Best Chinese Literary Criticism
Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. Raymond Dawson, Emeritus Fellow, Wadham College, Oxford.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As I understand of my readings from the "Tao Te Ching" and the "Complete Works of Chuang Tzu", TAOISM is a philosophy of inaction, the common analogy being that of the river eroding a mountain just by slowly doing its thing over a long course of time. Within the "Analects of Confucius" one finds quite a few gems of wisdom, including the almost universal Golden Rule (the saying, not the health insurance company)."
"One thing that seems worth mentioning is that, although Confucianism is generally referred to as a religion, the values, beliefs, and teachings of Confucius seem to render Confucianism more a philosophy than a religion. He placed great emphasis on "gentlemanly behavior, but seemed less concerned with anything like preparing for the hereafter."
"This actual paper copy was published in 2013 according to amazon, but many of the most helpful reviews are from 2001 or 2004."
"Given to friends."
"Then, as now, I was attracted to a philosophy that did not hold out a reward of eternal salvation as the basis for establishing common morality. At one point in the Analects, Confucius mocks someone who wants to know about death when in his opinion the person knows nothing at all about life. On the other hand, reading it as part of a class and as a student gave me what I am sure was a much better framework for placing the work against history and context. I had read Mencius two years ago and distinctly remember being frustrated by the introduction. I recognize that writing an introduction is rather a thankless job-- you either bore the experts or lose the newbies. I am not certain whether the Lau introduction to the Penguin edition of The Analects would bore an expert, but this (relative) newbie certainly appreciated its assistance."
"Item as described and fast shipping - recommended!"
Best Indian Literary Criticism
Full of information on the various aspects of Buddhism, meditation, yoga, and more, Buddhism stands apart as a concise and practical guide to infusing your life with its many teachings. What Buddhism is and what its teachings are The core concepts of Buddhism: karma, suffering, nirvana, and reincarnation The practice and benefits of yoga The four noble truths Practices, treasures, and poisons of Buddhism How to practice the five precepts of Buddhism How to practice mindfulness in order to reduce stress and anxiety And much, much more! Plus it provides great information on the different types of schools. I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about Buddhism and mindfulness."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Buddhism is one of the ancient techniques to clean the body and soul through meditation and other useful techniques.Though the origin came from India but still it is been practiced by many people in many countries for peace , mindfulness and other benefit."
"I bought this as a Christmas present for my 19 year old daughter who is interested in learning about different religions."
"For a person who's curious about Buddhism, this is a good starting point."
"I loved this book and read it within two days!"
"This book helped me turn my life around."
"Very nice treatment of the subject."
"This book does explain Buddhism in a fairly simple way, but I was horrified at the amount of typos and grammatical errors in this book."
"An easy to read book, but often not easy to understand because of all the typos, grammatical issues, and confusion of terms."