Forgive me for my late participation, guys, because I've been having less time to participate here.
Well, there are some points I'd like to do it:
First, about Kōbō Abe and Hiroshi Teshigahara, I think they are as Kobe and Shaq (former NBA's players), ie they did together some masterpieces as
Women in Dunes,
Pitfall and
The Face of Another. The Man Without a Map is the weakest film by both, I confess, but it is above average.
The Face of Another hit me and made me think about the impressions of persornal and external image by a person in view of the society judgments.
Women in Dunes and
Pitfall are claustrophobic!
The Man Without a Map is tedious, but it's a good film!
I haven't read the books by Abe yet, then I can't judge them, but these films by both are just brilliant!
Second, about
The Pillowbook. I confess that I laughed tough when I saw the definition by your professor, Daniel! LOL!!!
I was thinking about the upper classes and brilliant books about it.
In Search of Lost Time goes to the same way.
It's a book about frivolity, ego striffes and many other unpleasant things. But Proust narrated them with some mastery and dived the dept of human soul.
I believe that Shōnagon did the same, although I haven't read it, I know about the plot and the writing techniques by her.
Futhermore, Peter Greenaway adapted
The Pillowbook into a conceptual film. I loved this film! It's a fine, wonderful and lugubrious film!
I do recommend it!
Greenaway and Jarman are my best favorite Avant-Garde British directors! They are genious!
And my third and final point, yes, it's possible to do some masterpieces about futility and trivial things!
Edit: The wiki about
The Pillowbook (film):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillow_Book_(film) and the iconic song by U2 which belongs to the soundtrack of this film: