Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2019 - Humanities — Language & Literature

Indigenous literature provides invaluable firsthand insight into complex issues facing local communities as well as into communities' unique culture and history. Ten years in the making and the first of its kind, this compilation includes the work of 70-plus indigenous Micronesian writers of poetry and prose. The contributors delve into a wide range of Micronesia's complexities--from cultural diaspora to the detrimental effects of militarization--as well as into multifaceted aspects of local history and lived experience. Many of the writers document struggles against the lasting effects of colonialism. The value of this collection is immeasurable, for both Micronesian readers and others. The need to find oneself and one's culture represented in literature in the face of overwhelming cultural imperialism and Westernization, what coeditor Evelyn Flores (Univ. of Guam) refers to as a "recovery and assertion process," cannot be overstated. And it is past time for non-Micronesians to pay attention to these important voices. Many of the works were written in English, and the ones that were not are presented in both the author's first language and English translation. As Micronesia comprises more than 2,000 islands across a vast swath of ocean, seven maps help situate the writing spatially.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Acknowledged as a great classic of the Heian period (794-1185), The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is often students' favorite reading in survey courses of Japanese literature. Readers sense the immediate presence of Sei Shonagon in its pages, yet, as this meticulously researched volume incisively argues, The Pillow Book may never have had a definitive original text. Since the mid-11th century, it has circulated in significantly different versions, with the result that it has the most vexing textual history of any Heian period work. Ivanova (Univ. of Cincinnati) illuminates this long history with clarity and verve. In her focused overview of the equally complex history of the work's reception, the author discusses the fact that Sei Shonagon has been viewed as everything from skilled courtesan to exemplar of the educated woman to model for modern career women and has also been vilified for each reincarnation created by different readers. Moreover, Ivanova addresses the social and political needs that have produced surprising adaptations of The Pillow Book into other genres. The scope of the research underpinning this work is breathtaking, but even more impressive is the lucidity, concision, and accessibility of Ivanova's writing style. The story she tells is fascinating.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.