Tale of Genji, The, is considered the greatest novel in Japanese literature. It was written in the early 1000’s by Murasaki Shikibu. She was a lady-in-waiting in the Japanese court, which was then located in what is now the city of Kyoto. She is also known as Lady Murasaki.
The Tale of Genji is a long novel that portrays a society of refined and elegant aristocrats. The author’s style is filled with elaborate wordplay and is rich in poetry. The story is dominated by themes of death, frustration in love, and a Buddhist sense of human vanity and the impermanence of life. Lady Murasaki vividly describes the elaborate rituals of court life over several generations of the Genji family. The story begins with the romantic adventures of Prince Genji, the son of the emperor. The prince represents courtliness and the unique Japanese sensitivity to nature. Lady Murasaki expertly portrays a large cast of several hundred characters. She describes the many major characters with a sense of human emotion and a psychological realism that did not appear in Western literature until centuries later.
The Tale of Genji is traditionally published in 54 chapters divided into three parts. The first two parts focus on the life of Genji, and the last one deals with two children of Genji’s family, Niou and Kaoru. Some scholars claim that another author may have written the final chapters. Arthur Waley, an English scholar, published a translation of The Tale of Genji in six volumes from 1925 to 1933. His translation is considered a classic of English-language literature.
