I did read "The Tale of Genji" several years ago. Regrettably my copy in Spanish by Xavier Roca-Ferrer is a comparative indirect translation from various sources in Western languages. I still have to read the Uji chapters. Beautiful prose, even if the translator did understand the story as a soap-opera. He kind of makes up when he basically tells us in one of his appendix that one of the most alluring finds of her book is that a lot of characters and archetypes to be found in later literature was written first by her. She prefigurates modern literature. When I reached the episode when Genji passes away, "Lost in Clouds" and found it was a blank page I fell more in love with the story: all that had to be said about Hikaru Genji and his visit to this world had been said... only the luminosity of the empty page lingers as a reminder that he existed, a moment to absorb what has been written and to ponder on that life that has slipped away. Then, as time never stops, Hikaru Genji must be left behind to proceed with the Uji Chapters. Also recommended is "The World of the Shining Prince" by Ivan Morris. Even if the scholarship is around 60 years old, it is still a wonderful read. Regrettably my copy of Sei Shonagon's "Pillow Book" was defective, and I have no access to Lady Murasaki's Diary, so I can't comment on them firsthand. If you want to linger in Murasaki's world and you don't mind modern authors doing good stories on it, I can recommend: * Liza Dalby's "Tale of Murasaki" where she creates a fictionalized novel on Fujiwara Takako based on her Diary (she believed that "Takako" was the real name of Murasaki Shikibu). * Marguerite Yourcenar (author of the "Hadrian's Memoir"
I have recently discovered a passion for lady Murasaki, I read the diary and now i am reading the tale of Genji. During the reading many question arose in my mind about her life and hope one day to visit Japan , her grave her monument in Kyoto her house.
"Women were vicious to eachother" well this may have to do with patriarchy, maybe also translations influenced by the time it was written.. if people found our movies in 300 years, they could say " women were jealous of eachother" but it is just that these films are made by male not understanding a thing to women interactions ;) But for the rest thanks for the infos !
You could make that observation in any time period as you say. But especially the women of the Heian court were competing to be the next mother of the emperor in order to keep their family name on top, with Fujiwara having the most power. Tenions were high. It was the patriarchy, sure, who used their women as political weapons, but the women were equally aggressive. Fujiwara no Michinaga, the most powerful man in the Heian Period, had three daughters who had all become emperesses and all bore the sucessors.
Hi, I found your channel a little while ago, and it's really cool. Just wanted to say thank you for sharing this.
I did read "The Tale of Genji" several years ago. Regrettably my copy in Spanish by Xavier Roca-Ferrer is a comparative indirect translation from various sources in Western languages. I still have to read the Uji chapters.
Beautiful prose, even if the translator did understand the story as a soap-opera. He kind of makes up when he basically tells us in one of his appendix that one of the most alluring finds of her book is that a lot of characters and archetypes to be found in later literature was written first by her. She prefigurates modern literature.
When I reached the episode when Genji passes away, "Lost in Clouds" and found it was a blank page I fell more in love with the story: all that had to be said about Hikaru Genji and his visit to this world had been said... only the luminosity of the empty page lingers as a reminder that he existed, a moment to absorb what has been written and to ponder on that life that has slipped away. Then, as time never stops, Hikaru Genji must be left behind to proceed with the Uji Chapters.
Also recommended is "The World of the Shining Prince" by Ivan Morris. Even if the scholarship is around 60 years old, it is still a wonderful read.
Regrettably my copy of Sei Shonagon's "Pillow Book" was defective, and I have no access to Lady Murasaki's Diary, so I can't comment on them firsthand.
If you want to linger in Murasaki's world and you don't mind modern authors doing good stories on it, I can recommend:
* Liza Dalby's "Tale of Murasaki" where she creates a fictionalized novel on Fujiwara Takako based on her Diary (she believed that "Takako" was the real name of Murasaki Shikibu).
* Marguerite Yourcenar (author of the "Hadrian's Memoir"
I have recently discovered a passion for lady Murasaki, I read the diary and now i am reading the tale of Genji. During the reading many question arose in my mind about her life and hope one day to visit Japan , her grave her monument in Kyoto her house.
"Women were vicious to eachother" well this may have to do with patriarchy, maybe also translations influenced by the time it was written.. if people found our movies in 300 years, they could say " women were jealous of eachother" but it is just that these films are made by male not understanding a thing to women interactions ;) But for the rest thanks for the infos !
You could make that observation in any time period as you say. But especially the women of the Heian court were competing to be the next mother of the emperor in order to keep their family name on top, with Fujiwara having the most power. Tenions were high. It was the patriarchy, sure, who used their women as political weapons, but the women were equally aggressive.
Fujiwara no Michinaga, the most powerful man in the Heian Period, had three daughters who had all become emperesses and all bore the sucessors.