Formless in FormWhat makes a work of literature readable? This book asks that question of one of the classics of Japanese literature, the Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness) by Kenko (1283 1352), a collection of brief, fragmentary reflections on a number of subjects. In Japanese literary history the work is classified as one of the first collections of zuihitsu, or informal essay. This first extended critical treatment of Tsurezuregusa goes back to its author and his