The Tale of Genji

Description: Written in 11th-century Japan, The Tale of Genji is considered the first novel ever written. Murasaki Shikibu, its author, created a fictional framework developed around romantic relationships among the Japanese nobility in the latter half of the Heian period. The novel is extensive, with numerous characters and a complicated web of relationships. For the reader, it can be difficult to remember the characters, I personally turned to some schemes found online to have a clearer picture. The central relationship is between Genji and Murasaki, but this only covers a small part of the novel. I was surprised, from the point of view of the writing, by the richness of the descriptions, the detail of human nature and social relationships. From the point of view of the aspects described, I was surprised by the nature of the concerns in 11th-century Japan, the attention to beauty, poetry, music (the most frequently mentioned instrument is the koto), calligraphy and the characteristics of the paper on which they wrote their messages, clothing, perfume. During one event, it is mentioned that men played football! It is also surprising how noblemen could “kidnap” certain girls they liked, even from early childhood… I read the novel in Edward Seidensticker’s translation (1976). The language is beautiful and relatively easy to understand. However, in the readers’ recommendations, they currently opt for more recent translations, which possibly clarify a little more the characters hidden under the pronouns (hence a better adaptation from Japanese, where there is a lot of implicit understanding of the characters). An example of a recommended translation is that of Dennis Washburn (2015). I don’t know how it is, but I think it’s worth a try. In any case, reading the novel took me a few good months. But I say it was worth it! Another aspect I want to mention: the book is printed by GGP Media GmbH in Germany, in the Everyman’s Library collection. The quality is impeccable!

Year: 11th century

MyRating (1-5): ***