Episode Details

Sei Shonagon served as a lady-in-waiting at the Heian Japanese court and wrote The Pillow Book — a collection of lists, observations, complaints, and gossip so sharp and personal that it reads like a thousand-year-old blog. She ranked everything from annoying men to beautiful snowfalls, savaged rivals with devastating wit, and created a literary form that anticipated the personal essay by eight centuries.

This episode traces what we know of Shonagon's life at the Heian court, her rivalry with Murasaki Shikibu, and The Pillow Book's status as one of the founding texts of Japanese literature.

• Shonagon's position at the Heian court and the literary culture that produced her
• The Pillow Book — lists, gossip, observations, and the invention of the literary personal essay
• The rivalry with Murasaki Shikibu and what it reveals about Heian court competition
• Why The Pillow Book still feels contemporary a thousand years after it was written