Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn

Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn.

A Tale from the Eight Islands.
A FREE Otori story by Lian Hearn, available only on this website:
‘Wine, knife or sword?’ I said to Rei. She looked at me, puzzled. ‘Choose one. Wine, knife, sword.’ Wine for the marriage ceremony, knife to cut
our throats, sword for revenge.
The Otori.
It's over ten years since the publication of the first book Across the Nightingale Floor (2002). Since then the Tales of the Otori have been world
wide best sellers appealing to millions of readers in over 36 countries.
A Film?
Film rights were sold before the first book was published to Universal Studios for Kennedy/Marshall, and David Henry Hwang was assigned as
script writer. As yet the film has not been developed beyond the scripting stage.
Index.
Sugiyama Kazuko (1940-2006)
I was introduced to Kazuko-san by a mutual friend Kimura Miyo. They had been classmates at Shizuoka University. I had come across the poem
from the Manyoshu that opens Across The Nightingale Floor and found it extremely evocative. Miyo-san wrote out the original Japanese for me
and then while talking to Kazuko-san about it suggested that she should write it for me. I was so delighted when the calligraphy arrived I asked if I
might use it in the Australian and British editions of the book. Now it has appeared in over 18 countries round the world. It was one of the best
gifts anyone had ever made me and I am deeply grateful. Kazuko-san herself was very happy about this and said it was proof that she had lived.
Kazuko-san worked for many years for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Miyo-san wrote about her,
She was honest and sincere. She was shy and not aggressive. She was not a typical beauty. Her voice was attractive and had strength. Always she
worked for others. Her work as an editor, especially as a proof reader symbolises how she lived.
I never met Kazuko-san, though we spoke once on the phone and had exchanged letters, hers written in her beautiful style, works of art in
themselves. We had planned to meet in 2004 but ill health prevented her from coming to Shizuoka. And we had hoped to meet this year but now
this will not happen. When I heard the news of her death I felt as if I had lost a close friend.
I hope when people read the pieces of calligraphy with which the Tales of the Otori begin that they will think of the artist who drew them,
Sugiyama Kazuko.
Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn.
A Tale from the Eight Islands.
A FREE Otori story by Lian Hearn, available only on this website:
‘Wine, knife or sword?’ I said to Rei. She looked at me, puzzled. ‘Choose one. Wine, knife, sword.’ Wine for the marriage ceremony, knife to cut
our throats, sword for revenge.
The Otori.
It's over ten years since the publication of the first book Across the Nightingale Floor (2002). Since then the Tales of the Otori have been world
wide best sellers appealing to millions of readers in over 36 countries.
A Film?
Film rights were sold before the first book was published to Universal Studios for Kennedy/Marshall, and David Henry Hwang was assigned as
script writer. As yet the film has not been developed beyond the scripting stage.
Index.
Writing About Other Cultures.
Many writers young and old become intrigued and fascinated by another country or another period in history – sometimes both together. This
fascination can be triggered by all sorts of different things: travel or living abroad, studying history, reading books, watching cartoons, anime or
films, even playing games. Why do we want to write about other cultures? Is it wrong to try to write about cultures different from one’s own?
What are the challenges and the dangers?
Why we should do it:
It helps us to understand other nationalities if we try to make an imaginative leap into their world. It certainly casts a new light on our own society.
Our own individual writing style benefits enormously from studying the great literature of other cultures, even from the simple act of learning another
language.
Why we should not do it:
But it is also a dangerous undertaking, full of pitfalls. It’s harder than you think to rid yourself of your own cultural standpoint and voice. You run
the risk of distorting someone else’s culture, patronising it and belittling it. And it is only too easy to introduce anachronisms into a historical setting,
both in language and in background. So the whole endeavour needs approaching with great humility and respect – and a lot of hard work.
These are some suggestions on how to set about it:
Obviously the first thing is to do your research and to do this you need to know something of the language of the country you are interested in. I
can’t stress this strongly enough. For me it’s the essential. You need to be able to read the literature and history of the country in its own language.
Sometimes this is extremely difficult – in the case of Japanese for instance. Any effort is better than none. All languages construct and describe the
world in a slightly different way: you need to know the idioms and every day speech of your characters, what common symbols mean to them,
what their belief system is, and use words that are appropriate. For instance in a culture that does not believe in one Creator God, it makes no
sense for one of your characters to say “For God’s sake”. Can alliances be “cemented” in a world that does not build with cement? In a pre-
industrial world ideas can’t be electrifying nor can characters be galvanised. You need to look at every word you use and find alternatives for ones
that sound too modern.
Not only words, but the objects they stand for. History is many-layered and it’s often not easy to find exactly what you need to know. When were
apples introduced into Japan for instance? Or cotton, or candles? I have an illustrated Japanese history book which helps me check on this sort of
basic information – clothes, food, crops, armour, weapons and trade.
Other ways to research:
I spend a lot of time looking at pictures and other art works, and watching Japanese movies. Of course, you have to remind yourself that these
movies are interpretations of the past that may be only partly accurate and that these pictures may have been painted 200 years after the period
you are interested in.
I was lucky enough to receive a grant to travel to Japan from the Asialink Foundation which exists to help Australian artists live and work in Asian
countries. But even before I got the grant I had made many trips to Japan to research my books, to walk in the old towns and the countryside, to
experience the seasons and the phases of the moon, to listen to the sounds of the forest and the rice fields. I learned about the birds and animals,
flowers, shrubs and trees, all the time gleaning details that will help build a world. If you are a writer you need to notice everything, smells, sounds,
the pattern of light and shade, the shape of mountains. If you are writing history you need to be able to discern the old landscape beneath the new,
where a castle stood at the head of a valley, how people crossed a river before there was a bridge, how the terrain and the weather determine the
outcome of a battle. You need all the usual elements of writing, with at least double the effort in research and imagination.
Language:
Much historical writing is spoiled by a lack of awareness of language. Language changes and grows all the time: we speak very differently from
people in the past and we use many words that they would never have heard. The writer needs to try and capture or mimic the idiom of the past if
writing about English-speaking countries, and invent a style that suggests the speech if it is in another language. I don’t like the convention of using a
smattering of words in the language of your chosen country: ie if you are writing about France to have your characters exclaim “Tiens,” “Alors” or
“Merci”, or in Japan “sumimasen” or "wakarimashita!" It doesn't make sense to drop these words into a sentence in English. And often the words
themselves are used incorrectly. Better to try to give the flavour of French or Japanese through the subtle use of sentence construction and idioms.
Names:
I spend a lot of time considering names. Readers are very intolerant of difficult or confusing names. Yet to be accurate to my period the names
should be quite complex. Also different names were used by family members, and by the outside world. And it was common to change your name
from time to time. Whenever I have to choose I usually go for the simpler alternative. So my main characters have short names that are easy to
remember.
Time and place:
Days of the week and names of months are very particular to each culture. In pre-modern Japan the year was divided into twelve lunar months,
with an extra month added every few years to bring the months back into season. The days were divided into twelve “hours” six between sunrise
and sunset, six between sunset and sunrise. So the “hours” were only equal in length at the equinox. There were methods of measuring the passing
of time but no clocks and watches as we have, so people were not locked into accounting for minutes or half hours. I try to avoid all such units.
Time meant something different then, and so did distance. News travelled only as fast as a galloping horse or a running man.
This brings me to another point:
Make map, charts and calendars of everything you want to put in your book – towns, interiors of houses, the passage of time, the phases of the
moon, and of course the overall world. Work out how long it takes to travel across your world, on foot or on horse back, making allowances for
bad weather, storms, floods and so on. Are there mountains – you must provide a pass; are there rivers? They will need bridges, fords or transport
by boats. You may want to write about armies and battles, but armies need feeding every day so you have to give some thought to who is growing
the food and how it is delivered.
Outside help:
I couldn’t have written my books without help from many Japanese friends who checked names for me and helped me with research. If you aren’t
sure about something ask for help. There are lots of internet sites now which makes things easier. Be willing to accept that you might have got it
wrong and change your writing accordingly. I’m still doing that every day!
Conversation with Lian Hearn.
What is your background? How does it impact on your writing? I was born in England and [have since] emigrated to Australia. I think the main
influences on my writing were my rather disturbed teenage years (I won't go into details) and studying modern languages (French and Spanish) at
Oxford.
The Otori Series.
I had been interested in Japan for years, ever since I was a child really, but I only went there for the first time in 1993. It was while I was there that
an idea suggested itself to me - to try to write a fantasy set not in an Anglo-Celtic world but one based on medieval Japan.
Between the Darkness and the Light.
I’ve written five books in the Tales of the Otori series. It started as a trilogy (Across the Nightingale Floor, Grass for his Pillow and Brilliance of
the Moon) but I realised I had more to say about the characters and have written one book (Heaven’s Net is Wide) that ends where Across the
Nightingale Floor begins.
Across the Nightingale Floor.
A land of incomparable beauty torn by civil war An ancient tradition undermined by spies and assassins A society of rigid castes and codes
subverted by love Takeo is raised among the Hidden, whose beliefs forbid them to kill. When his family fall victim to religious persecution at the
hands of Lord Iida of the Dairyo clan, he is rescued and adopted by the warrior, Shigeru, of the Otori clan.
Brilliance of the Moon.
A beautiful, haunting evocation of a time and place just beyond the reach of an outside world, the third instalment of the Tales of the Otori
transports us once again to a medieval Japan of Hearn s imagination, a land of formal ritual and codes, harsh beauty and deceptive appearance.
Children of the Otori: Book 1 - Orphan Warriors.
The bitter struggles of the Tribe and the clans have left many children orphaned. Among them are Sunaomi and Chikara, sons of Arai Zenko, who
face death after their parents' treachery. Their aunt, Kaede, is able to save their lives on condition they become novice monks and never leave the
temple at Terayama. Sunaomi has been brought up as a warrior, yet his grandmother is Muto Shizuka. He cannot escape that he is also a child of
the Tribe. As he discovers unimagined talents within himself he comes up against Hisao, Takeo's son, the ghostmaster, as well as Saga Hideki, the
most powerful warlord in the realm, the Emperor's General. Taking place in the magical medieval world of Tales of the Otori, Orphan Warriors is
a coming-of-age adventure story in a human world of courage and sacrifice behind which always hovers a supernatural world of danger and dread.
Children of the Otori: Book 2 - Sibling Assassins.
A new generation, a relentless enmity. The thrilling climax of Lian Hearn's multi-million-copy bestselling OTORI series.
As a boy Arai Sunaomi was known as the Miracle Child and crossed between the worlds to walk among the dead. Now he has put aside his past
to follow the way of the warrior. His aunt, Kaede, is considering making him her heir, and her General, Miyoshi Kahei, hopes to betroth Sunaomi
to his daughter, Kinu. But there is one girl whom Sunaomi cannot forget: Utahime, who has been dead for seven years. Will he dare bring her back
to life? Utahime's brother, Masao, is Sunaomi's oldest friend and the only surviving relative of the great warlord Saga Hideki. When Masao
disappears after a fight in the city, Sunaomi is charged with finding him. With his cousins, Kiyoko and Kichizo, sibling assassins from the Tribe,
Sunaomi sets out on a journey which will take him into an enthralling and dangerous world of spirits and supernatural beings, rebels, pirates and
saints - the extraordinary and enchanting world of the Tales of the Otori.
Conversation with Lian Hearn.
What is your background? How does it impact on your writing? I was born in England and [have since] emigrated to Australia. I think the main
influences on my writing were my rather disturbed teenage years (I won't go into details) and studying modern languages (French and Spanish) at
Oxford.
The Otori Series.
I had been interested in Japan for years, ever since I was a child really, but I only went there for the first time in 1993. It was while I was there that
an idea suggested itself to me - to try to write a fantasy set not in an Anglo-Celtic world but one based on medieval Japan.
Blossoms and Shadows.
This is the story of the birth of modern Japan, told by Tsuru, a young woman who breaks every stereotype of the Japanese lady. We meet her on
the day of her sister s wedding, and soon realise that she will not accept the same domestic role that her sister is about to take on.
Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn.
A Tale from the Eight Islands.
A FREE Otori story by Lian Hearn, available only on this website:
‘Wine, knife or sword?’ I said to Rei. She looked at me, puzzled. ‘Choose one. Wine, knife, sword.’ Wine for the marriage ceremony, knife to cut
our throats, sword for revenge.
The Otori.
It's over ten years since the publication of the first book Across the Nightingale Floor (2002). Since then the Tales of the Otori have been world
wide best sellers appealing to millions of readers in over 36 countries.
A Film?
Film rights were sold before the first book was published to Universal Studios for Kennedy/Marshall, and David Henry Hwang was assigned as
script writer. As yet the film has not been developed beyond the scripting stage.
Index.
Grass for his Pillow.
The title is a Japanese phrase (kusamakura) which means sleeping outside. It occurs in the poem used as the epigraph for Across the Nightingale
Floor:
The deer that weds The autumn bush clover They say Sires a single fawn And this fawn of mine This lone boy Sets off on a journey Grass for his
pillow.
Shigeru also uses the phrase in the first chapter of Across the Nightingale Floor when he and Takeo spend the night on the edge of the Yaegahara
plain, scene of the battle in which the Otori were defeated by the Tohan.
The title of each of the books in the Tales of the Otori is hidden within the text of the previous book. As a title, Grass for His Pillow holds, for me,
suggestions of exile, suffering and separation, journeying, and an intense awareness of the physical world.
In Across the Nightingale Floor I established a world that draws on the powerful symbols of samurai and ninja, though I never mention these by
name - I was hoping to avoid some of the cliches that have attached themselves to these figures. In Grass I wanted to look behind the symbols and
see what their true effect might be on the society around them, particularly on women. In Across the Nightingale Floor the characters act heroically
and there is "magic": in Grass the underside of heroism and magic are discovered - the treachery and self-serving of the warrior class, the cruelty
and ruthlessness of the Tribe.
Cold and snow play an important role in the story; so does the landscape of the Three Countries.
On nights when wind mixing in the rain falls. On nights when rain mixing in the snow falls.
One of the key themes of Grass is what is hidden and what is revealed. The books are full of secrets, which is why I don't really like talking about
them or explaining too much. I hope my readers will discover the treasures that are hidden within for themselves.
Grass for his Pillow blurb:
Bound by the bargain he made with the Tribe, Takeo must join them and put his skills at their service. But their cruelty and injustice force him to try
to escape. He is immediately sentenced to death by the Tribe and as winter draws in, he flees over the mountains to Terayama, helped by the
outcaste, Jo-An.
Kaede, devastated by Takeo s leave-taking, returns to her parents home. She is pregnant with Takeo s child, but she and Shizuka decide to tell
everyone that Kaede secretly married Shigeru and it is his child. She finds her house neglected and her estate almost ruined. Her mother is dead,
her father is on the verge of insanity. Kaede is determined to educate herself and her sisters and save her domain. Then her father dies in
mysterious circumstances: did he take his own life or was he murdered? She and her sisters face starvation in the coming winter, and Kaede enters
into a pact with the strange, intriguing but sinister nobleman, Lord Fujiwara, in return for food and money.
When Kaede learns that Takeo is still alive and where he is, she journeys to see him. Reunited, they marry, but their union insults powerful forces
around them, and takes them inexorably closer to war, death and terrible tragedy.
Conversation with Lian Hearn.
What is your background? How does it impact on your writing? I was born in England and [have since] emigrated to Australia. I think the main
influences on my writing were my rather disturbed teenage years (I won't go into details) and studying modern languages (French and Spanish) at
Oxford.
The Otori Series.
I had been interested in Japan for years, ever since I was a child really, but I only went there for the first time in 1993. It was while I was there that
an idea suggested itself to me - to try to write a fantasy set not in an Anglo-Celtic world but one based on medieval Japan.
Blossoms and Shadows.
This is the story of the birth of modern Japan, told by Tsuru, a young woman who breaks every stereotype of the Japanese lady. We meet her on
the day of her sister s wedding, and soon realise that she will not accept the same domestic role that her sister is about to take on.
Between the Darkness and the Light.
I’ve written five books in the Tales of the Otori series. It started as a trilogy (Across the Nightingale Floor, Grass for his Pillow and Brilliance of
the Moon) but I realised I had more to say about the characters and have written one book (Heaven’s Net is Wide) that ends where Across the
Nightingale Floor begins.
Across the Nightingale Floor.
A land of incomparable beauty torn by civil war. An ancient tradition undermined by spies and assassins. A society of rigid castes and codes
subverted by love. Takeo is raised among the Hidden, whose beliefs forbid them to kill. When his family fall victim to religious persecution at the
hands of Lord Iida of the Dairyo clan, he is rescued and adopted by the warrior, Shigeru, of the Otori clan.
Brilliance of the Moon.
A beautiful, haunting evocation of a time and place just beyond the reach of an outside world, the third instalment of the Tales of the Otori
transports us once again to a medieval Japan of Hearn's imagination, a land of formal ritual and codes, harsh beauty and deceptive appearance.
Grass For His Pillow.
Reproduced with the permission of the publisher. They may not be reproduced, duplicated or distributed without written permission from Penguin
Group (USA) Inc. Copying these materials for anything other than your personal use is a violation of United States copyright laws.
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Riverhead Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of
the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.