Bøger af Ihara Saikaku

"Amor entre Samurais" é uma seleção de contos homoeróticos de um dos mais populares autores do Japão no século XVII, Ihara Saikaku. Estes contos foram os primeiros textos de Saikaku a chegar ao Ocidente, na década de 1920, e, quase cem anos depois, são também os primeiros textos do autor a ser publicados em português. Edward Carpenter refere: "Como é possível justificar a negligência absoluta a que tem sido submetida esta literatura? A obra de Saikaku não pertence apenas à história da literatura, mas é também uma mina de informações sobre a história da cultura japonesa, que apenas pode ser ignorada por uma vontade de supressão deliberada da verdade [sobre a homossexualidade no Japão antigo]."

A Great Classic of Japanese literature and the masterpiece of novelist Ihara Saikaku--now in a completely new and revised edition with introduction by noted scholar David J. Gundry The culmination of Saikaku's perceptive genius, the 20 short stories within This Scheming World recount raucous events and incidents on New Year's Eve as everyone tries to settle their debts for the year, as is the New Year's custom. Crafty money lenders attempt to collect their money from equally crafty debtors, and 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. The new Introduction by Saikaku expert David J. Gundry explains how and why this entertaining work still resonates with modern readers today. The finely-crafted tales include stories of: Philanderers who slip off to hide in the homes of their mistressesHustlers who leave town suddenly on "very important" business tripsConnivers who become actors for a day to hide-in-plain-sight on stage"The New Year's Eve is more precious than a thousand pieces of gold. It is the Great Divide between winter and spring, which none can pass over without copper and silver." --Ihara Saikaku

"e;Five charming novellas which have astonishing freshness, color, and warmth."e; The New Yorker First published in 1686, this collection of five novellas was an immediate bestseller in the bawdy world that was Genroku Japan, and the book's popularity has increased with age, making it today a literary classic like Boccaccio's Decameron, or the works of Rabelais. The book follows five determined women in their always amorous, erotic and usually illicit adventures. The five heroines are Onatsu, already wise in the ways of love the tender age of sixteen; Osen, a faithful wife until unjustly accused of adultery; Osan, a Kyoto beauty who falls asleep in the wrong bed; Oshichi, willing to burn down a city to meet her samurai lover; and 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 "e;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."e;Saikaku's style, as allusive as it is witty, as abbreviated as it is penetrating, is a challenge that few translators have dared to face, and certainly never before with the success here achieved in a translation that recaptures the heady flavor of the original.

Stories of homosexual love affairs between samurai men and boys and between young kabuki actors and their patrons held broad appeal in pre-modern Japanese culture. An independent popular writer, Saikaku wrote "Nanshoku Okagami" in 1687 with the intention of extending his readership.