Another book for my book list

[pegkerr]

I stumbled across a review of Amy Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, which led me to her web site, and I must say I'm intrigued. I was struck by this review, which compares it to Sei Shônagon's Pillow Book (she was born a lady-in-waiting cum documentarian of the tenth-century Japanese court), because they both share a command of okashi:

Okashi holds a range of meanings, all positive—amusing, charming, delightful, interesting. A possible etymology of the term breaks into two parts, a conjugation of the verb "oku" meaning "to invite" or "to elicit" and the causative/adjectival formant "shi," creating a descriptor for things that "cause to invite" or "cause to elicit." In other words, okashi characterizes people/objects/places/events that draw forth the interest of an observer. Moreover, it is clear from usage that okashi describes matters that appeal to the observer’s wit through the unique confluence of a specific time, space, subject/object, and action. For instance, the dawn of spring, when the mountain ranges gradually brighten and purple wisps of clouds drift across them (the opening passage of The Pillow Book). Or the circumstance Lady Shônagon deems at the top of her list of "Hateful Things: when an important visitor arrives unannounced at one’s home just when one is in a rush to leave, and one is begrudgingly forced to entertain—how hateful! In Sei Shônagon’s writings, things that are okashi are the extraordinarily amusing things that punctuate ordinary life (albeit quotidian life in the imperial court). The things Ms. Rosenthal captures are, therefore, the hallmark of okashi.

I'm quite intrigued by this, as I think to some extent that's what LiveJournal is like. I have a series of memories which I call "snapshots," and I think what I really meant was something rather close to okashi. I now am quite intrigued to read both Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life and Lady Sei Shônagon's Pillow Book (kijjohnson has read it and mentioned it for years.)

I am also interested in several of the methods she (Amy Rosenthal) used for promoting the book. She had 20 friends/Book Hiding Specialists hide 150 copies of the book around Chicago and then invited the finders to write into the website about their experiences of finding it and reading it. Lost and Found has been set up in other cities, too. She invited readers to e-mail her at the website and describe what they were doing when they read a particular entry, and she promised to bake and Fed Ex a pie to the 100th person to e-mail her. Then she said that the 100th person to congratuate the winner gets a batch of blueberry muffins. Some rather whimsical book promotion, which seems like fun.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I love Sei Shonagon fiercely: her personality pops off the page like Boswell's Johnson. I recommend the Ivan Morris translation; I can't vouch for the Japanese, but the English is impeccable.

And, yes, I think of my LJ as my pillowbook, but infinitely less polished.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Well, she leaves out the "strange/weird" meaning of "okashi"... but still, it's one of my favorite concepts. And the _Pillow Book_ is one of my favorite books, even though you'll hate the author at points.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I am also interested in several of the methods she (Amy Rosenthal) used for promoting [her] book. She had 20 friends/Book Hiding Specialists hide 150 copies of the book around Chicago and then invited the finders to write into the website about their experiences of finding it and reading it. Lost and Found has been set up in other cities, too.

Talk about "casting your bread upon the water"...

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Hm. wintersweet touched on it before I could, but still, it's an interesting omission. From my knowledge of Japanese, which I will readily admit is more holes than substance, 'okashi' represents a, well, funny overlap between English and Japanese if it's translated as 'funny:' it can mean amusing, or it can mean odd. Or sometimes it seems to mean both.

It's not a /rude/ comment on oddness. That would be 'hen.' But the meaning is definitely there.

I don't know. Maybe it's because humor is so often a matter of articulating something which other people have experienced but not expressed, and not quite felt like they /could/ express or were socially permitted to express. The humorist says what others have almost but not quite permitted themselves to think. And if that's a connection with any merit, then it links well with what you're saying about LJ - the boundary-crossing between journal (what is private and therefore /not/ on the list of acceptable topics for discussion) and publication.

I should not try to philosophize across languages at 2:45 AM. Forgive me. And hello, I'm me, I followed juliansinger here and hope you don't mind.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your observations, and welcome! Philosophizing at any hour is always welcome.