Gender and Language

Sherry Simon's foundational work in feminist translation studies explores how gender shapes the practice of translation, arguing that translation is not a neutral act of transmission but a politically charged intervention in cultural meaning.

Written around 1000, The Pillow Book turns lists, poems, and courtly fragments into a woman's literary authority - while revealing the elite world that both enabled and limited that voice.

An Ohio State teaching video introduces Heian court literature through Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shōnagon. It is an accessible orientation, best paired with close reading on language, class, and historical difference.