{"product_id":"unbinding-the-pillow-book-the-many-lives-of-a-japanese-classic-9780231187992","title":"Unbinding the Pillow Book: The Many Lives of a Japanese Classic","description":"An eleventh-century classic, \u003ci\u003eThe Pillow Book\u003c\/i\u003e of Sei Shōnagon is frequently paired with \u003ci\u003eThe Tale of Genji\u003c\/i\u003e as one of the most important works in the Japanese canon. Yet it has also been marginalized within Japanese literature for reasons including the gender of its author, the work's complex textual history, and its thematic and stylistic depth. In \u003ci\u003eUnbinding The Pillow Book\u003c\/i\u003e, Gergana Ivanova offers a reception history of \u003ci\u003eThe Pillow Book\u003c\/i\u003e and its author from the seventeenth century to the present that shows how various ideologies have influenced the text and shaped interactions among its different versions. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIvanova examines how and why \u003ci\u003eThe Pillow Book\u003c\/i\u003e has been read over the centuries, placing it in the multiple contexts in which it has been rewritten, including women's education, literary scholarship, popular culture, \"pleasure quarters,\" and the formation of the modern nation-state. Drawing on scholarly commentaries, erotic parodies, instruction manuals for women, high school textbooks, and comic books, she considers its outsized role in ideas about Japanese women writers. Ultimately, Ivanova argues for engaging the work's plurality in order to achieve a clearer understanding of \u003ci\u003eThe Pillow Book\u003c\/i\u003e and the importance it has held for generations of readers, rather than limiting it to a definitive version or singular meaning. The first book-length study in English of the reception history of Sei Shōnagon, \u003ci\u003eUnbinding The Pillow Book\u003c\/i\u003e sheds new light on the construction of gender and sexuality, how women's writing has been used to create readerships, and why ancient texts continue to play vibrant roles in contemporary cultural production.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Gergana Ivanova\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Columbia University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/06\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780231187992","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44002773532809,"sku":"9780231187992","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_9d81e0fc-1e81-46b2-86ad-1bf4dfe2d7dc.jpg?v=1747720607","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/unbinding-the-pillow-book-the-many-lives-of-a-japanese-classic-9780231187992","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}