SOURCE: An introduction to Japanese Poetic Diaries, University of California Press, 1969, pp. 1-56.

In the following excerpt, Miner discusses some theories of authorship of The Diary of Izumi Shikibu, its characterizations, shifting narrative point of view, and unsatisfying ending.

… In 1003 Izumi Shikibu entered into an affair with a prince of the blood, Atsumichi. As the journey had been the subject of the earlier diary, the love affair is that of the later. Instead of a representative tragedy of maternal love, we have a depiction of the psychology and romance of courtly love. So much is clear at once, but for many other features of The Diary of Izumi Shikibu there is more inference and speculation than there is clear evidence. The two chief problems are those of authorship and of the actual life of Izumi Shikibu.

In brief, the history of theories of authorship divides into four stages...