โ Scribed by Murasaki Shikibu
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
In the tradition of Robert Fagles's translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Viking presents a stunning translation of Lady Murasaki's exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan. Written in the eleventh century, The Tale of Genji is widely celebrated as the world's first novel, but as Donald Keene has observed, it is also "one of its greatest". Genji the Shining Prince, the son of an emperor, is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances, and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic. Throughout, The Tale of Genji offers a lively and well-rounded glimpse of golden age Japan with a cast of characters as richly conceived and nuanced as those of Proust.Royall Tyler's superb translation, detailed and poetic, is scrupulously true to the Japanese original but appeals immediately to the modern reader as well. Tyler includes detailed notes, glossaries, character lists, and chronologies to help the reader navigate the multigenerational narrative and its references. Magnificently packaged in a two-volume set with a slipcase, this is a literary event comparable to Seamus Heaney's bestselling translation of Beowulf. It will spark interest in this masterpiece of world literature and serve as the standard edition for many years to come.
Novels
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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. This introduction to the Genji sketches its cultural background, offers detailed analysis of
In the tradition of Robert Fagles's translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Viking presents a stunning translation of Lady Murasaki's exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan. Written in the eleventh century, The Tale of Genji is widely celebrated as the world's first novel, but as Don
Centuries before Shakespeare, Murasaki Shikibu's _The Tale of Genji_ was already acknowledged as a classic of Japanese literature. Over the past century, this book has gained worldwide acceptance as not only the world's first novel, but as one of the greatest works of literature of all time. Th
""A graceful, lucid translation of the world's first, and one of its greatest, novels."...Alan Tansman, University of California, Berkeley. Murasaki Shikibu, born into the middle ranks of the aristocracy during the Heian Period (794-1185 CE), wrote The Tale of Genji...widely considered the world's f
Written centuries before the time of Shakespeare and Chaucer, _The Tale of Genji_ marks the birth of the novel -- and after more than a millennium, this seminal work about the life and loves of Prince Genji, master poet, dancer, musician and painter, continues to enchant readers throughout the world