My Name Is Sei Shonagon

(Paperback)

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Description

Who is Sei Shonagon The tenth-century author of The Pillow Book A woman of mixed-race parentage, surviving life in modern Japan Or a voice from behind a screen, reaching across centuries, linking them both Just off a fashionable street in the upbeat heart of contemporary Tokyo, lies a fragment of another age - an old incense shop. Above it, in a room furnished with nothing but a simple paper screen, guests come to speak with the woman known as 'Sei Shonagon', hoping to find answers to the mysteries of their own bizarre lives. 'Sei Shonagon' seeks out beauty where she can find it - whether in her memories, or in traditional Japanese culture. As she grows older, the need to understand what she sees around her becomes a personal odyssey that affects the lives of everyone she encounters. As beautiful as a Haiku, as gripping as a psychological thriller, My Name is Sei Shonagon introduces a new writer of major talent.

Reviews

[An] exquisitely written observation of contemporary Japan... Jan Blensdorf is from Australia, but her sensitive perceptions of a society in crisis make this modern pillow book well worth its plucking from the publisher's slush pile * Guardian *
Cultural observations float through her prose like butterflies, but sting like a bee in the end * Liza Dalby *
A poetic tale about the social constraints and collective unconscious of modern Japan... Like the Japanese calligraphy the narrator is taught, Blensdorf's sparse prose creates word-paintings of great subtlety * Literary Review *
Set in Tokyo the story glides across the contradictions of contemporary Japanese culture - its deep traditions and manic consumerism... * The Times *
A subtle meditation on beauty and womanhood * Observer *

Author Bio

Born in Australia, Jan Blensdorf has lived and worked abroad for many years, and is now based in England. My Name is Sei Shonagon grew out of two years she spent in Tokyo. This is her first novel.