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Interdisciplinary Studies in Letters & Science
Chabot College
Discussion Led By Don Skiles
Basho: The Narrow Road to the Deep North & Other Travel Sketches
In later years, a student asked if there was a secret to haikai. Buson said. . ."Yes, use the commonplace to escape the commonplace." – The Essential Haiku, ed. Robert Hass, Ecco, 1994, pps 75-6
"Birds in flight, claims the architect Vincenzo Valentieri, are not between places, they carry their places with them. We never wonder where they live; they are at home in flight. Flight is their way of being in the world." - Geoff Dyer
TEXT: Basho: Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches:
Nobuyuki Yuasa (Translator). Penguin Books (Viking Press) (1967) ISBN:
0140441859
With the Japanese poet Basho, we enter a world, time and aesthetic (17th century Japan) remote from ours. My hope is that in studying The Narrow Road to The Deep North and Other Travel Sketches together we can imaginatively enter that world for a brief time – perhaps as brief - but as lasting - as one of the haiku. That would be perfect and fitting, for much of what Basho is "about" is imperfection, the fleeting nature of all things, in the small and large worlds.
I would like to go through the works carefully with you, so let’s try this schedule:
Wednesday, January 18: "The Records of A Weather-Exposed Skeleton" 51-64
Thursday, January 19: "The Records of a Travel-Worn Satchel", 71-90.
Monday, January 23: "The Narrow Road to The Deep North", 97-119
Tuesday, January 24: "The Narrow Road to The Deep North", 120-43
Wednesday, January 25: Conclusion
We’ll write an in-class essay on Wednesday, January 25 (in Small Group):
"We’ve reached the end – but hopefully it is just the beginning – of our study of Basho’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches. Take some time here in class, and write on what your understanding of haiku is now, after our study and discussions together. What do you know about it? What are its characteristics, it qualities?
"Please choose a haiku or two from Basho’s writings to illustrate your description/answer."
Some links of interest:
Patricia Shannon's Colloquium Presentation of 2003 on 17th Century Japan and how to read Basho's Haiku (Powerpoint presentation)
Kohl, Steven (2002) University of Oregon http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kohl/basho/
Last Updated: 1/12/06 - SH