Tales of Tears and Laughter: Short Fiction of Medieval Japan [Hardcover]

Virginia Skord (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1991 | ISBN-10: 0824813154 | ISBN-13: 978-0824813154

The stories in this collection constitute just a small portion of a vast body of some four hundred short narratives known as otogizoshi. They represent a cross section of medieval Japan in its richness and complexity, a panoply of life teeming with all the possibilities and contradictions of the age.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As Skord explains in her helpful introduction, the term otogi-zoshi (literally, "companion booklets" or "companion stories") encompasses a body of about 400 short and thematically varied Japanese narratives from the late 1300s to the early 1800s, and Skord has chosen 13 examples here. Although who authored and who read these works remain unknown, it is Skord's convincing argument that the tales "represent a cross section of medieval Japan in all its richness and complexity . . . teeming with all the possibilities and contradictions of the age." Aided by endnotes, the reader can glimpse a realm in which indiscretion is a worse sin than adultery, in which appreciation of poetry defines a person's character. The tales are, as the title suggests, alternately comical and serious, scatological and openly didactic; all possess clear charm and a certain immediacy. At the same time they are slightly impenetrable for Westerners, often concluding with abrupt homilies or other shifts in tone, but this distancing effect proves alluring rather than alienating. Skord, a professor of Asian studies at Manhattanville College, has adapted this elusive form with energy and imagination. Illustrations.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English
Original Language: Japanese

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824813154
• ISBN-13: 978-0824813154
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 3.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,599,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Depressed? Stressed out? This is a "must-read" book for you!, November 8, 1999

By 

Ken Iida (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tales of Tears and Laughter: Short Fiction of Medieval Japan (Hardcover)

It was a nonstop reading. Who could possibly get bored with the thirteen cute, little pieces Virginia Skord presents here? She succeeds in carrying out the subtle nuances the original texts possess (I have read many of them translated into "modern" Japanese) into jargon-free English. What? Do words such as "medieval Japan" or "East Asian Studies" intimidate you? You do not see anything in common between your cultural background and the medieval culture from Far East? Hold the view for now. Read this, cry and laugh, and now you realize how common virtues can transcend the time, culture, or geography.