Novel
The Tale of Genji
源氏物語
Murasaki Shikibu · 1008
Synopsis
Genji is the son of an emperor and of a concubine of modest rank; the emperor sets him aside from the succession and gives him the name Minamoto, which makes him a subject. He falls in love with Fujitsubo, his father's wife, who resembles his lost mother, and from their secret affair a son is born whom the court believes to be the emperor's. Married young to Aoi without happiness, he has many affairs, according to World History Encyclopedia, and takes in a little girl, Murasaki, Fujitsubo's niece, whom he raises to make her the ideal wife.
Context
The author's diary mentions the tale as early as 1008, and a reader of the following generation says she obtained it complete around 1021, whereas World History Encyclopedia gives it as completed around 1020. Written mainly in hiragana, the script associated with women, it has fifty-four chapters, among which are inserted more than eight hundred poems; the original is lost, and more than three hundred copies fall into three families. It is read in Japan in modern versions, including those of a poet and of two twentieth-century novelists. René Sieffert translated it into French from 1977.
Who it is for
A very long narrative, made of seasons, love affairs and court intrigues, for those willing to settle into it. The characters are often designated by their office.
Prizes and reception
Often presented as the first novel, though the title is disputed, it enjoyed immediate success and inspired painted scrolls as early as the twelfth century.