Böcker av Izumi Shikibu

Here is a collection of sexy, brief, fleeting poems about love, lust and longing. They originate from a time in Japanese history where aristocratic women of the Heian court were free to marry and conduct love affairs according to their desires. Education and refinement were so highly valued that the courtly manner of expressing oneself, whether to give condolences for a death, to send back a forgotten fan, or to heighten the anticipation of a lover's visit, was with a poem of just five lines. A convention of secrecy surrounding love affairs fills these verses with palpable emotion.These vivid and erotic poems express love in all its forms, and do so with amazing economy of words, unforgettable imagery and breath-taking modernity.INTRODUCED BY NIKITA GILL'They are full of dreams, of autumns, of lovers known or not yet met, of desire, wonderment, loneliness' Irish Times Translated by Jane Hirshfield with Mariko Aratani, this is an edition that brings the story of the poems to life with a detailed introduction and notes on the translation.

Izumi Shikibu (978-??), author, femme fatale, and prominent member of the Heian court, was first and foremost a poet-the greatest of her time, perhaps the greatest her country has ever known. Incorporated in numerous imperial anthologies, Izumi Shikibu's work has been admired through the ages.In this richly poetic diary Izumi Shikibu shares with us each and every turn in her tempestuous relationship with Prince Atsumichi, a relationship that began with the casual exchange of poems, deepened in the course of numerous setbacks, and culminated in her joining the prince at the imperial court.The Izumi Shikibu nikki is not only a literary giant's account of her most intimate thoughts; it is an unforgettable glimpse into an utterly enchanting word-a world 'dowered with a rare and exquisite taste,' a world filled with color and fragrance, but above all a word in which 'everywhere, everywhere, there is poetry.'