Reviews

"The recent discovery of the only surviving manuscript of The Confessions of Lady Nijo created a sensation in the world of Japanese literature, not only because this journal of a court lady was previously unknown, but because it is a literary masterpiece. It describes with extraordinary honesty and beauty the life of a woman whose lovers included emperors, statesmen, and priests. Surely there can be few comparable books in the world, and Karen Brazell's fine translation makes it a joy to read." -Donald Keene, "Karen Brazell's translation ... is given in unaffected contemporary idiom and assisted by introduction and notes of just the right scope. This is the kind of work to revive that much deprived person, the general reading... We owe thanks to Lady Nijo and to Karen Brazell for making available to us a fine story and fresh understanding of human life. In this translation it seems much more human that strange ever after these seven centuries and in a different cultural setting." -Earl Miner,Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese "A fascinating work for several reasons, among them its precise documentation of ways of life and feeling that are wholly dissimilar to the West's." The New Yorker