The Tale of Genji
Genji Monogatari (源氏物語) is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century. It is one of the earliest novels in Japanese and is sometimes (incorrectly) said to be the oldest novel in the world.
It tells the story of the a fictional character, named Hikaru no Genji, of a historically existent clan of Minamoto. He is a son of the Japanese emperor, who, for political reasons, is relegated to civilian life and begins a career as an imperial officer. The tale concentrates in his romantic life and gives an impressive portrait of the customs of the time. Written in an engaging but difficult style due to court conventions (it seems it was written to entertain Japanese courtwomen) it has all the elements of a novel: a more or less central character, a line of events happening over a period of time and a narrator.
The author delights in describing Genji's handsomeness, and how "he never forgot a woman he met". This charming, beautiful and courteous hero is amazingly similar in style to the Spanish, fifteen century Amadis de Gaula (including its complete lack of peasants), and is a sharp contrast to the almost barbaric heroes found in literature.
Some of the court customs affecting the style of the novel are the importance the Japanese gave (and still give) to rank: a character is rarely called by his or her name, but rather by rank, and women are named based on the colors of their clothing or the words they said when first met, or the rank of their male parents. Thus the highly restrictive manners of the court where even visual contact between lovers is difficult give a totally different and poetic flavor to the tale.
An important part of the book is poetry. Poems were an important part of social communication, and modifying or rephrasing a classic poem according to the current situation was expected behaviour, and the thinly veiled allusions made in them using wordplays (something quite natural in japanese) are as interesting as the story itself. The poems in the Genji are in the classic Japanese tanka form. The majority of the poems were composed by Lady Murasaki for the novel, although a number of well known classics are also included.
The story is entirely written in Japanese kana and one of the most representative works of Kana literature. Almost all Japanese schools teach the story in their Japanese language classes.
Because of the cultural difference, reading an annotated version is quite common, even among native Japanese. Many works including comics are derived from the Tale of Genji. A comic version, Asakiyumemishi, is widely read among the Japanese youth.
The novel has three gradual stages, the first two dealing with the life of Genji, and the last dealing with the early years of two of Genji's prominent "descendants" Niou and Kaoru. There are also several short transitional chapters which are usually grouped separately and whose authorship is sometimes questioned:
Chapters
The chapters are:
See also: Japanese literature