Selvbiografier

This classic work of Japanese literature is considered the masterpiece of Japanese novelist Seken Munasanya.This Scheming World (Seken Munasanyo) was published in 1692, one year before the authors death. It represents the culmination of Saikakus perceptive genius, and in structure, is one of the most consolidated of all his works. Most of the stories are told as incidents or episodes relating to New Years Eve, when in those days it was the custom to balance all debits and credits for the year. Saikaku portrays his characters with so lifelike a touch that, even though three centuries have passed since his time, it seems as if they were our contemporaries.Decidedly inclined towards the debtors, Saikaku has them slipping off to the homes of their favorite mistresses, leaving town on sudden business trips, or becoming actors for the day in order to deceive the everpersistent yearend collectors. Some of his characters are successful, while some are beset by even more troubles in trying to avoid the collectors. The episodes are always frank, often with humor, and occasionally pathetic. But more than anything else, the seventeenth century daytoday way of living by the commoners comes vividly to life.