Portal:Literature
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The history of literature begins with the history of writing, in the Bronze Age of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, although the oldest literary texts date to a full millennium after the invention of writing, to the late 3rd millennium BC. The earliest literary authors known by name are Ptahhotep and Enheduanna, dating to ca. the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, respectively. More about Literature...
Selected article
Murasaki Shikibu (紫式部, English: Lady Murasaki) (c. 973 – c. 1014 or 1025) was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012. Murasaki Shikibu is a nickname; her real name is unknown, but she may have been Fujiwara Takako, who was mentioned in a 1007 court diary as an imperial lady-in-waiting.
She was raised in her father's household where she learned Chinese, the written language of government, from which women were traditionally excluded. She married in her mid to late twenties and gave birth to a daughter before her husband died, two years after they were married. It is uncertain when she began to write The Tale of Genji, probably while she was married or shortly after she was widowed. In about 1005, Murasaki was invited to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi at the Imperial court, probably because of her reputation as a writer. She continued to write during her service, adding scenes from court life to her work. After five or six years, she left court and retired with Shōshi to the Lake Biwa region. Scholars differ on the year of her death; although most agree on 1014, others have suggested she was alive in 1025.
Selected picture
Murasaki Shikibu at Ishiyama-dera
Image: Suzuki Harunobu
Did you know ...
... that Salman Rushdie (pictured) is best known for the violent criticism that his book The Satanic Verses (1988) provoked in the Muslim community, and that after death threats and a fatwa by Ruhollah Khomeini, calling for his assassination, Rushdie spent years underground, appearing in public only sporadically?
... that Ugo Riccarelli was awarded the 2004 Strega Prize for his novel, Il dolore perfetto?
... that Roman historian Sallust wrote an account of the Jugurthine War (112-105 BC), Bellum Iugurthinum?
... that Lily Brett has written novels about Holocaust survivors living in New York City, for example Just Like That (1994)?
... that the term masochism was coined by 19th century psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing with Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's writings — such as his 1870 novel Venus im Pelz (Venus in Furs) — in mind?
... that Mary Shelley & Percy Bysshe Shelley, Pamela Hansford Johnson & C. P. Snow, Faye Kellerman & Jonathan Kellerman, and Siri Hustvedt & Paul Auster are just four of the many writing couples in the history of literature?
... that U.S. crime writer Donna Leon's novels featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti are all set in and around Venice, Italy, and that they have been translated into many languages, but not into Italian?
... that the Heian period Japanese story Torikaebaya Monogatari is the tale of a man who lives as a woman and his sister who lives as a man, who eventually swap places in order to lead happy lives?
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Quotes
| “ | Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me From mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom. |
” |
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- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), The Tempest, Act 1 scene 2
A day in literature
- 1568 – Honoré d'Urfé, French writer born
- 1763 – William Shenstone, English poet died
- 1764 – Marie-Joseph de Chenier, French poet born
- 1860 – Rachilde, French author born
- 1869 – Else Lasker-Schüler, German writer born
- 1874 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author born
- 1887 – John van Melle, South African writer born
- 1917 – Sidney Sheldon, American author born
- 1939 – Jane Yolen, American author born
- 1978 – Harry Martinson, Swedish writer died
- 1986 – Frank Herbert, American author died
- 1996 – Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet died
News
- 6 October, 2011 - Nobel prize in literature goes to Tomas Tranströmer.Guardian
- 6 September, 2011 - Shortlist for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is announced. themanbookerprize.com
- 19 April, 2011 - A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan wins the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.Guardian
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Anthropomorphism – Books – Children's books – Essays – Essayists – Fiction – Genres – Gothic writing – LGBT literature – Literary awards – Literary characters – Literary concepts – Literary genres – Literary magazines – Literary movements – Literature by nationality – Literature in English – Medieval literature – Minimalism – Narratology – Novels – Plays – Poetry – Short stories – Small press publishers – Literature stubs – Theatre – Traditional stories – Writers – Young adult literature – Zines
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