Life of an Amorous Man

Life of an Amorous Man PDF Author: Ihara Saikaku
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462902014
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
First published in 1682, The Life of an Amorous Man depicts the pursuits and follies of the glorious age of old Japan, when the new bourgeoisie, unfettered by the societal constraints of the traditional aristocracy, indulged in the free and easy life of Japan’s celebrated pleasure houses. The hero of this fascinating novel is a composite of the many daijin (men of wealth) who spent their time in these flourishing establishments. The novel follows the hero, Yonosuke, or “Man of the World,” from precocious childhood to the close of his amatory career. Along the way, Saikaku exploits the full gamut of his sexual indulgence, always the frankness, often with humor, and occasionally with pathos — chronicling the erotic escapades of his hero and providing vivid character sketches of the women (and sometimes men) with whom Yonosuke dallied.

Life of an Amorous Man

Life of an Amorous Man PDF Author: Ihara Saikaku
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462902014
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
First published in 1682, The Life of an Amorous Man depicts the pursuits and follies of the glorious age of old Japan, when the new bourgeoisie, unfettered by the societal constraints of the traditional aristocracy, indulged in the free and easy life of Japan’s celebrated pleasure houses. The hero of this fascinating novel is a composite of the many daijin (men of wealth) who spent their time in these flourishing establishments. The novel follows the hero, Yonosuke, or “Man of the World,” from precocious childhood to the close of his amatory career. Along the way, Saikaku exploits the full gamut of his sexual indulgence, always the frankness, often with humor, and occasionally with pathos — chronicling the erotic escapades of his hero and providing vivid character sketches of the women (and sometimes men) with whom Yonosuke dallied.

The Life of an Amorous Woman

The Life of an Amorous Woman PDF Author: 井原西鶴
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 9780811201872
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Ihara Saikaku "wrote of the lowest class in the Tokugawa world -- the townsmen who were rising in wealth and power but not in official status."--Back cover.

Amorous Woman

Amorous Woman PDF Author: Donna Storey
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
ISBN: 1611729009
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
An American woman's sexual awakening in Japan, testing the limits of love and sensual pleasure

Five Women Who Loved Love

Five Women Who Loved Love PDF Author: Ihara Saikaku
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462903002
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
"Five charming novellas … which have astonishing freshness, color, and warmth."-- The New Yorker First published in 1686, this collection of five novellas by Ihara Saikaku was an immediate bestseller in the bawdy world of Genroku Japan. The book's popularity has only increased with age, making it a literary classic like Boccaccio's Decameron, or the works of Rabelais. Each of the five stories follows a determined woman on her quest for amorous adventure: The Story of Seijuro in Himeji -- Onatsu, already wise in the ways of love the tender age of sixteen. The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love -- Osen, a faithful wife until unjustly accused of adultery. What the Seasons Brought the Almanac Maker-- Osan, a Kyoto beauty who falls asleep in the wrong bed. The Greengrocer's Daughter with a Bundle of Love -- Oshichi, willing to burn down a city to meet her samurai lover. Gengobei, the Mountain of Love -- Oman, who has to compete with handsome boys to win her lover's affections. But the book is more than a collection of skillfully told erotic tales, for "Saikaku …could not delve into the inmost secrets of human life only to expose them to ridicule or snickering prurience. Obviously fascinated by the variety and complexity of human love, but always retaining a sense of its intrinsic dignity … he is both a discriminating and compassionate judge of his fellow man." Saikaku's style, as allusive as it is witty, is a challenge that few translators have dared to face, and certainly never before with the success here. Accentuated by gorgeous 17th-century illustrations. Theodore de Bary's translation manages to recapture the heady flavor of the original in this sumptuous collection of romantic tales.

In Praise of Older Women

In Praise of Older Women PDF Author: Stephen Vizinczey
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226858869
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
"A cool, comic survey of the sexual education of a young Hungarian, from his first encounter, as a twelve-year-old refugee with the American forces, to his unsatisfactory liaison with a reporter's wife in Canada at the belated end of his youth, when he was twenty-three . . . elegantly erotic, with masses of that indefinable quality, style . . . this has the real stuff of immortality."—B. A. Young, Punch "A pleasure. Vizinczey writes of women beautifully, with sympathy, tact and delight, and he writes about sex with more lucidity and grace than most writers ever acquire."—Larry McMurtry, Houston Post "Like James Joyce, who was as far from being a writer of erotica as Dostoevsky, Vizinczey has a refreshing message to deliver: Life is not about sex, sex is about life."—John Podhoretz, Washington Times "The gracefully written story of a young man growing up among older women . . . although some passages may well arouse the reader, this novel brims with what the courts have termed "redeeming literary merit."—Clarence Petersen, Chicago Tribune "A funny novel about sex, or rather (which is rarer) a novel which is funny as well as touching about sex . . . elegant, exact and melodious—has style, presence and individuality."—Isabel Quigly, Sunday Telegraph "The delicious adventures of a young Casanova who appreciates maturity while acquiring it himself. In turn naive, sophisticated, arrogant, disarming, the narrator woos his women and his tale wins the reader."—Polly Devlin, Vogue

A Woman of Uncertain Character

A Woman of Uncertain Character PDF Author: Clancy Sigal
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 9780786719952
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
A poignant and raucous memoir of a mother — feminist, fighter against injustice, and unbridled lover — and her madcap son.

Too Much and Not the Mood

Too Much and Not the Mood PDF Author: Durga Chew-Bose
Publisher: FSG Originals
ISBN: 0374535957
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
An entirely original portrait of a young writer shutting out the din in order to find her own voice

Five Women Who Loved Love

Five Women Who Loved Love PDF Author: 井原西鶴
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 9780804801843
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
First published in 1686, Five Women Who Loved Love was an immediate bestseller in the bawdy, life-loving world that was Genroku Japan.

The Japanese Family Storehouse, Or, The Millionaires' Gospel Modernised

The Japanese Family Storehouse, Or, The Millionaires' Gospel Modernised PDF Author: Saikaku Ihara
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN:
Category : Japan
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description


This Scheming World

This Scheming World PDF Author: Ihara Saikaku
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 146290260X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
This classic work of Japanese literature is considered the masterpiece of Japanese novelist Seken Munasanya. This Scheming World (Seken Munasanyo) was published in 1692, one year before the author’s death. It represents the culmination of Saikaku’s perceptive genius, and in structure, is one of the most consolidated of all his works. Most of the stories are told as incidents or episodes relating to New Year’s Eve, when in those days it was the custom to balance all debits and credits for the year. Saikaku portrays his characters with so lifelike a touch that, even though three centuries have passed since his time, it seems as if they were our contemporaries. Decidedly inclined towards the debtors, Saikaku has them slipping off to the homes of their favorite mistresses, leaving town on “sudden” business trips, or becoming actors for the day in order to deceive the ever–persistent year–end collectors. Some of his characters are successful, while some are beset by even more troubles in trying to avoid the collectors. The episodes are always frank, often with humor, and occasionally pathetic. But more than anything else, the seventeenth century day–to–day way of living by the commoners comes vividly to life.