Comments | zonemind: The Tale of Genji

zonemind

The Tale of Genji

Jul 23, 2009 23:51

It has been a thousand years or so since “Murasaki Shikibu” wrote the Tale of Genji. She wrote three centuries before Chaucer made English a respectable language for those with literary aspirations. Much of what she wrote borders on the incomprehensible today. And yet, the story of Genji consistently moves me in a way few modern authors can ( Read more... )

literature, rough draft, genji, japan

Comments 3

chadu July 24 2009, 13:50:51 UTC

Intriguing!

I have a copy of Tale of Genji sitting on my To Read list -- a big, big doorstop/brick of a book... which is why I've hesitated to crack it open.

Now that I know it comes in novella-sized chunks, my fear is lessened!

Muchas!

(Feel free to keep this up!)

Hhmmm.. lurkeralbatross July 24 2009, 16:11:37 UTC

You have stirred up a bit of interest in this for me, but when it comes right down to it, I'd probably only be reading it to seem smart.

Re: Hhmmm.. zonemind July 24 2009, 19:01:49 UTC

You could read it to learn more about writing. There's never any shame or falsehood in that.

I initially picked it up because it seemed like the most intellectually worthy thing in the ship's library. Reading the Tale of Genji while at sea had a certain Romance to it. While you were in the shopping gallery, I was pretending that I am the kind of person that is allowed to be cultured and suave.

But the thing was fun! I actually found myself interested in the characters, caring about what happened. It didn't carry me away quite as much as Wuthering Heights, but I was far less pissed off (in Wuthering Heights, I just really wanted Heathcliff to die, and impatiently waiting for that kept me turning the pages). The alien cultural element was also intriguing.