Sei Shōnagon's Pillow Book
A lady-in-waiting writes lists of 'hateful things'
A lady-in-waiting to Empress Teishi jotted down observations, gossip and opinions on everything. Its best-known parts are 164 lists such as 'Hateful Things' and 'Things That Make the Heart Beat Faster' — a Japanese classic that reads like a blog.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 11th century
Did you know
The two great women of Japanese classical literature did not get on. Murasaki Shikibu, author of Genji, wrote that Sei Shōnagon of The Pillow Book was 'dreadfully conceited' and littered her writing with Chinese characters. Share →
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- c. 1000 Stephen I, first king of Hungary — 2 years earlier
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 988 Christianization of Kievan Rus' — 14 years earlier
Middle East
- 1010 Ferdowsi completes the Shahnameh — 8 years later
- 1025 Avicenna's Canon of Medicine — 23 years later
Africa
- c. 1000 Extinction of the elephant birds — 2 years earlier
- 1006 Supernova SN 1006 — 4 years later
Americas
- 1021 Norse in North America — 19 years later
Alive at the time
- Vladimir the Great (aged 42)
- Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (aged 22)
- Ferdowsi (aged 62)
- Æthelred the Unready (aged 36)
- Leif Erikson (aged 32)
- Murasaki Shikibu (aged 29)
- Yaroslav the Wise (aged 24)
- Cnut the Great (aged 7)
- Sei Shōnagon (aged 36)
- Robert II the Pious (aged 30)