Customer Reviews:
 Wells isn't he willful? September 18, 2003
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Kagero Diary precedes the most famous of Japanese literary creations the Genji monogatari by a few decades. This is the second full translation of the Kagero Diary, the first was by Edward Seidensticker, and I believe this one to be the superior. Dr. Arntzen begins with a 50 page introduction that informs the reader of both the historical and the literary realam in which the Diary was created, and she gives a basic description of the poetry, religion, and politic of the time, so the reader can easily understand what is taking place. Instead of footnotes the author puts the footnotes parallel to the diary itself making for very easy reference. The Diary itself is a staright forward memoir of Michitsuna's mother telling of her marriage woes. A wonderful book.
 Fascinating and a must for Tale of Genji fans! March 5, 1999
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book (same as the Gossamer Years tr. Seidensticker) is a series of fairly short passages written by "Michinaga's Mother," describing her life in the last quarter of the 10th c., starting with her marriage to a Fujiwara who would become one of the most powerful lords in the country. She is particularly interested in recording the poems she wrote and those written to reply to them by her husband and others. She also gives a vivid picture of her moral struggle with the Buddhist rejection of human loves and the cultural pleasures she is so deeply involved in. I am just getting interested in Heian Japan after reading the Tale of Genji, and the Kagero Diary is a wonderful source of information and understanding. As a memoir it is much more powerful (IMHO) than Murasaki's own diary or Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book. You can see and feel the author coming to terms with who she is and the life she has lived as she narrates the events that were most important for her. The text of the translation is set on the right-hand pages and the notes on the facing page. The poems are all transcribed so that one can see the words in them, and Arntzen, the translator, comments on the puns, etc. The notes and introduction are in some places personal, describing a modern woman scholar's changing understanding of the author. They are also smart and scholarly. I am not sure whether this translation would be satisfactory all by itself, but with the notes one feels one is getting in touch with the original. Unfortunately, there are many irritating typos.
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