New Books Network Gian Piero Persiani, "Poets, Patrons, and the Public: Poetry as Cultural Phenomenon in Courtly Japan" (Brill, 2025)
Dec 19, 2025
Gian Piero Persiani, Assistant Professor of Japanese literature at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, dives into the vibrant world of waka poetry in courtly Japan. He explores its 31-syllable form, themes of love and nature, and its role as social currency among the elite. Persiani discusses how social rank influenced poetic practices and the political significance of commissioned works. He also examines the coexistence of different poetic forms and reflects on the impact of AI on the appreciation of authentic voices in poetry.
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Waka's Form Shapes Its Culture
- Waka is a short 31-syllable Japanese poetic form that became dominant by the 9th century.
- Its fixed 5-7-5-7-7 structure shaped themes and widespread practice.
Use Distance To See The Whole Literary Field
- Persiani uses sociological and book-history frameworks to see waka as a complex cultural system.
- He compares distant reading to stepping back from a pointillist painting to grasp the whole phenomenon.
Poetry Was Socially Scripted
- Social rank strongly conditioned how people composed and used waka at court.
- Poets of different ranks deployed poetry to pursue status-appropriate goals, like promotion or delegation.