The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji PDF

Author: Murasaki Shikibu

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2006-02-28

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1101097396

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An abridged edition of the world’s first novel, in a translation that is “likely to be the definitive edition . . . for many years to come” (The Wall Street Journal) A Penguin Classic Written in the eleventh century, this exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the world’s first novel—and is certainly one of its finest. Genji, the Shining Prince, is the son of an emperor. He is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances, and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic. Royall Tyler’s superior translation is detailed, poetic, and superbly true to the Japanese original while allowing the modern reader to appreciate it as a contemporary treasure. In this deftly abridged edition, Tyler focuses on the early chapters, which vividly evoke Genji as a young man and leave him at his first moment of triumph. This edition also includes detailed notes, glossaries, character lists, and chronologies.

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji PDF

Author: Murasaki Shikibu

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 1990-06-16

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0679729534

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In the eleventh century Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Heian court of Japan, wrote the world's first novel. But The Tale of Genji is no mere artifact. It is, rather, a lively and astonishingly nuanced portrait of a refined society where every dalliance is an act of political consequence, a play of characters whose inner lives are as rich and changeable as those imagined by Proust. Chief of these is "the shining Genji," the son of the emperor and a man whose passionate impulses create great turmoil in his world and very nearly destroy him. This edition, recognized as the finest version in English, contains a dozen chapters from early in the book, carefully chosen by the translator, Edward G. Seidensticker, with an introduction explaining the selection. It is illustrated throughout with woodcuts from a seventeenth-century edition.

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji PDF

Author: John T. Carpenter

Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published: 2019-03-04

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1588396657

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With its vivid descriptions of courtly society, gardens, and architecture in early eleventh-century Japan, The Tale of Genji—recognized as the world’s first novel—has captivated audiences around the globe and inspired artistic traditions for one thousand years. Its female author, Murasaki Shikibu, was a diarist, a renowned poet, and, as a tutor to the young empress, the ultimate palace insider; her monumental work of fiction offers entry into an elaborate, mysterious world of court romance, political intrigue, elite customs, and religious life. This handsomely designed and illustrated book explores the outstanding art associated with Genji through in-depth essays and discussions of more than one hundred works. The Tale of Genji has influenced all forms of Japanese artistic expression, from intimately scaled albums to boldly designed hanging scrolls and screen paintings, lacquer boxes, incense burners, games, palanquins for transporting young brides to their new homes, and even contemporary manga. The authors, both art historians and Genji scholars, discuss the tale’s transmission and reception over the centuries; illuminate its place within the history of Japanese literature and calligraphy; highlight its key episodes and characters; and explore its wide-ranging influence on Japanese culture, design, and aesthetics into the modern era. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana}

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji PDF

Author: Melissa McCormick

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2018-11-06

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 0691172684

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Written in the eleventh century by the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji is a masterpiece of prose and poetry that is widely considered the world's first novel. Melissa McCormick provides a unique companion to Murasaki's tale that combines discussions of all fifty-four of its chapters with paintings and calligraphy from the Genji Album (1510) in the Harvard Art Museums, the oldest dated set of Genji illustrations known to exist. In this book, the album's colorful painting and calligraphy leaves are fully reproduced for the first time, followed by McCormick's insightful essays that analyze the Genji story and the album's unique combinations of word and image. This stunning compendium also includes English translations and Japanese transcriptions of the album's calligraphy, enabling a holistic experience of the work for readers today. In an introduction to the volume, McCormick tells the fascinating stories of the individuals who created the Genji Album in the sixteenth century, from the famous court painter who executed the paintings and the aristocrats who brushed the calligraphy to the work's warrior patrons and the poet-scholars who acted as their intermediaries. Beautifully illustrated, this book serves as an invaluable guide for readers interested in The Tale of Genji, Japanese literature, and the captivating visual world of Japan's most celebrated work of fiction.

Reading The Tale of Genji

Reading The Tale of Genji PDF

Author: Thomas Harper

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2015-12-01

Total Pages: 633

ISBN-13: 0231537204

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The Tale of Genji, written one thousand years ago, is a masterpiece of Japanese literature, is often regarded as the best prose fiction in the language. Read, commented on, and reimagined by poets, scholars, dramatists, artists, and novelists, the tale has left a legacy as rich and reflective as the work itself. This sourcebook is the most comprehensive record of the reception of The Tale of Genji to date. It presents a range of landmark texts relating to the work during its first millennium, almost all of which are translated into English for the first time. An introduction prefaces each set of documents, situating them within the tradition of Japanese literature and cultural history. These texts provide a fascinating glimpse into Japanese views of literature, poetry, imperial politics, and the place of art and women in society. Selections include an imagined conversation among court ladies gossiping about their favorite characters and scenes in Genji; learned exegetical commentary; a vigorous debate over the morality of Genji; and an impassioned defense of Genji's ability to enhance Japan's standing among the twentieth century's community of nations. Taken together, these documents reflect Japan's fraught history with vernacular texts, particularly those written by women.

Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji

Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji PDF

Author: Richard Bowring

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 9780521539753

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Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji, written in Japan in the early eleventh century, is acknowledged to be one of Japan's greatest literary achievements, and sometimes thought of as the world's first novel. It is also one of the earliest major works to be written by a woman. This introduction to the Genji sketches the cultural background, offers detailed analysis of the text, discusses matters of language and style and ends by tracing the history of its reception through nine centuries of cultural change. This book will be useful for survey courses in Japanese and World Literature. Because The Tale of Genji is so long, it is often not possible for students to read it in its entirety and this book will therefore be used not only as an introduction, but also as a guide through the difficult and convoluted plot.

The Tale of Genji (Abridged)

The Tale of Genji (Abridged) PDF

Author: Murasaki Shikibu

Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing

Published: 2012-01-01

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 9781420946451

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"The Tale of Genji" by Lady Muraski is one of the world's most influential novels. As the first psychological novel, "The Tale of Genji" delves into the motivations and thoughts of the main characters, which had never been done in previous novels. The famous Japanese story is about Genji, the son of an emperor. When his mother died, Genji's father married another woman who greatly resembled Genji's mother. However, Genji fell in love with his new stepmother, causing problems between him and his own wife. He pursues a number of affairs, and is eventually exiled from the Capitol to a small, rural town. While Lady Murasaki did not base "The Tale of Genji" on a true story, she was inspired by a Minister in the royal court. She wrote the story in small installments for the ladies of the court, which might explain why the story was never "finished;" Lady Murasaki intended to keep the stories going as long as she possibly could. She also created some of the most memorable female characters in literature. As such, "The Tale of Genji" is widely considered to be one of the greatest works in the Japanese literature canon, as well as one of the most influential works of storytelling. Contained in this volume is the abridged translation of Suematsu Kencho.

The Father-Daughter Plot

The Father-Daughter Plot PDF

Author: Rebecca L. Copeland

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2001-07-31

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 9780824824389

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This provocative collection of essays is a comprehensive study of the "father-daughter dynamic" in Japanese female literary experience. Its contributors examine the ways in which women have been placed politically, ideologically, and symbolically as "daughters" in a culture that venerates "the father." They weigh the impact that this daughterly position has had on both the performance and production of women's writing from the classical period to the present. Conjoining the classical and the modern with a unified theme reveals an important continuum in female authorship-a historical approach often ignored by scholars. The essays devoted to the literature of the classical period discuss canonical texts in a new light, offering important feminist readings that challenge existing scholarship, while those dedicated to modern writers introduce readers to little-known texts with translations and readings that are engaging and original. Contributors: Tomoko Aoyama, Sonja Arntzen, Janice Brown, Rebecca L. Copeland, Midori McKeon, Eileen Mikals-Adachi, Joshua S. Mostow, Sharalyn Orbaugh, Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen, Edith Sarra, Atsuko Sasaki, Ann Sherif.

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji PDF

Author: Waki Yamato

Publisher: Kodansha America LLC

Published: 2020-02-04

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 1646592239

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The concluding volume! Despite Kaoru's love, she longs for Prince Nio—even though he's her sister's husband. The sisters of Uji, who so captivated Kaoru and Prince Nio, had yet another younger sister, Ukifune. Kaoru showers her with affection in place of his dead lover, but after just one brief encounter with Prince Nio, her heart is stirred by that moment of passion, leaving her intensely shaken ...