What’s the Tale of Genji?
Summary
TLDRIn this video, we explore 'The Tale of Genji,' the world's first novel, penned by Murasaki Shikibu a millennium ago. The narrative delves into the life of Hikaru Genji, a Japanese prince, as he navigates romance, politics, and self-discovery. The video discusses the author's background, the novel's influence on Japanese culture, and its unique portrayal of love and suffering. It also touches on the book's historical significance, its reception in the Meiji era, and its enduring legacy, including the challenges of translating its courtly language for modern readers.
Takeaways
- 📚 The Tale of Genji is recognized as the world's first novel, written by Murasaki Shikibu around a thousand years ago.
- 👩💼 Murasaki Shikibu was a lady-in-waiting in the Heian court and wrote the novel primarily for a female audience.
- 🎭 The novel's characters are referred to by their ranks rather than names, reflecting the high level of formality in Japanese culture.
- 🏯 The story is set in a period of Japanese history when the country was distancing itself from Chinese influence and developing its own cultural identity.
- 📖 The Tale of Genji is composed of 54 chapters that can be read separately, detailing the life of Hikaru Genji, a prince with many romantic adventures.
- 🌹 Genji's character is complex, embodying both beauty and a deep sensitivity, which was highly valued during his time.
- 💔 The novel explores the theme of love in its many forms, from the sublime to the tragic, and the suffering it often brings.
- 👘 It provides a unique emotional record of a historical period, with a focus on the experiences and perspectives of women.
- 🧘 The narrative suggests a Buddhist view of life as suffering and the idea of detachment from love and worldly desires for happiness.
- 🌐 The Tale of Genji has had a significant influence on Japanese literature and has been reinterpreted by later generations to assert a distinct Japanese cultural identity.
Q & A
Who is considered the author of the world's first novel, and what is the name of the novel?
-The world's first novel is considered to be 'The Tale of Genji,' written by a female author named Shikibu Murasaki.
What was Lady Murasaki's role at the Heian court?
-Lady Murasaki was employed as a lady-in-waiting, which meant she served as a tutor and personal poet for a princess at the Heian court.
Why is it sometimes difficult to read 'The Tale of Genji' due to the naming conventions used?
-In 'The Tale of Genji,' characters are referred to by their rank rather than by name, which can make reading the novel confusing, as is the custom of using surnames or company names over first names in Japan.
Why might some people doubt that Shikibu Murasaki wrote 'The Tale of Genji'?
-Some people doubt that Shikibu Murasaki wrote 'The Tale of Genji' because her name is not her real name, and it was unusual for women of the time to write in a language like Chinese, which was considered a masculine domain.
How did Japan's cultural and political climate during the Heian period influence 'The Tale of Genji'?
-During the Heian period, Japan was distancing itself from China and becoming more nationalistic. This cultural shift is reflected in 'The Tale of Genji,' which stands as an early example of Japanese literature emerging from the shadow of Chinese influence.
What is the structure of 'The Tale of Genji,' and how does it differ from modern novels?
-The Tale of Genji has 54 chapters that can be read separately, possibly written in installments. It differs from modern novels in its subtle portrayal of romance and lack of clear plot, focusing more on the realistic portrayal of emotions and characters.
Who is Hikaru Genji, and what is the main theme of his story?
-Hikaru Genji is a prince, the son of an emperor and a concubine, who is the central character of 'The Tale of Genji.' The main theme of his story revolves around his romantic adventures with women and his quest for meaning in life.
How does 'The Tale of Genji' portray the concept of love and relationships?
-The novel portrays love in all its forms, from beautiful and poetic to ridiculous, tragic, and horrible. It suggests that love itself, rather than the people involved, can cause misery, and that detachment from love might be necessary for happiness.
What is the significance of the empty chapter marking Genji's death in 'The Tale of Genji'?
-The empty chapter marking Genji's death is a storytelling device that signifies the end of an era and the emotional impact of his passing. It leaves the reader to contemplate the void left by his death.
How has 'The Tale of Genji' been reinterpreted in different historical periods in Japan?
-During the Meiji period, 'The Tale of Genji' was seen as a symbol of Japanese cultural identity and superiority over Chinese influence. Later, it was used to emphasize the Japanese spirit and maternal values in contrast to Western patriarchy.
Why do most modern Japanese readers need to read 'The Tale of Genji' in translation?
-Most modern Japanese readers need to read 'The Tale of Genji' in translation because it was written in a highly formal court Japanese that is difficult to understand without special skills and dedication.
Outlines
📜 Introduction to 'The Tale of Genji' and its Historical Context
The video script introduces 'The Tale of Genji' as the world's first novel, written by Murasaki Shikibu a thousand years ago. It discusses the author's background as a lady-in-waiting in the Heian court and her use of formal language and names based on rank, which can be confusing for modern readers. The script highlights the novel's significance in Japanese literature and its reflection of the period's shift towards Japanese nationalism and away from Chinese influence. It also provides a brief on the novel's structure, which consists of 54 chapters that can be read separately, and mentions the protagonist, Hikaru Genji, a prince with a penchant for romantic adventures and a quest for meaning in life.
💖 Exploration of Love and Emotions in 'The Tale of Genji'
This paragraph delves into the portrayal of love in its various forms within the novel, from the sublime to the tragic. It discusses the Buddhist theme of life as suffering and how the novel's characters experience sorrow and anguish. The concept of 'mono no aware' is introduced, reflecting the transient nature of life and the beauty in fleeting sadness. The script also touches on the novel's unique position as an emotional record of a historical period, the gender roles and expectations of the time, and the author's nuanced depiction of both male and female characters. It concludes with insights into the novel's exploration of love's complexities, including jealousy and the suffering it causes, and the suggestion that detachment from love and worldly desires might be the path to happiness.
🌏 Cultural Significance and Reception of 'The Tale of Genji'
The final paragraph discusses the novel's cultural significance and its reception over time. It highlights how the Meiji period's nationalism led to a rediscovery of 'The Tale of Genji' as a symbol of Japanese cultural identity. The script mentions how intellectuals used the novel to assert Japanese superiority and maternal values in contrast to Western patriarchy. It also notes the irony that most contemporary Japanese readers access the novel through translation due to its archaic language. The paragraph concludes with the presenter's intention to compare 'The Tale of Genji' with the Persian epic 'Shahnameh' in a future video, inviting viewers to join the journey of exploring literature from around the world.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡The Tale of Genji
💡Murasaki Shikibu
💡Heian Period
💡Hikaru Genji
💡Mono no aware
💡Buddhism
💡Court Japanese
💡Yamato-damashii
💡Patriarchy
💡Translation
Highlights
The Tale of Genji is considered the world's first novel, written by a female author, Shikibu Murasaki, a thousand years ago.
Lady Murasaki was born into a noble family and served as a lady-in-waiting and personal poet for a princess at the Heian court.
The novel is thought to be primarily written for a female audience, reflecting the social dynamics and romantic interests of the time.
Shikibu Murasaki's name is a pseudonym, reflecting the formalities and name customs of the Heian period.
The characters in the novel are referred to by their ranks rather than names, which can be confusing for modern readers.
Japanese women of the time were not allowed to use Chinese, the language of literature, which was considered a masculine domain.
The novel provides a unique perspective on the Heian period, as much of the literature from that era was written by women.
The Tale of Genji is set during a period of peace and isolation in Japan, with no mention of wars or conflicts.
The novel has 54 chapters that can be read separately, possibly written in installments by Murasaki.
Hikaru Genji, the protagonist, is a prince with a quest for meaning in life and romantic adventures with various women.
Genji's character is complex, showing signs of nervousness, anxiety, and stress, despite his charm and beauty.
The novel explores the theme of love in all its forms, from beautiful and poetic to tragic and horrible.
The Tale of Genji is noted for its subtlety, with much left to the reader's imagination regarding romantic encounters.
The novel follows a Buddhist view of life as suffering, with affairs often ending in sorrow and anguish.
The concept of mono no aware, or the fleeting sadness that is beautiful, is a significant theme in the novel.
The Tale of Genji provides an emotional record of the Heian period, offering a woman's perspective on historical suffering.
The novel suggests that love itself, rather than the people involved, is the cause of misery.
The Meiji period saw a resurgence of interest in The Tale of Genji as a symbol of Japanese cultural identity.
Today, most Japanese know of the tale but few have read it, with many reading it in translation due to its archaic language.
The Tale of Genji has been praised by literary figures such as Jorge Luis Borges and Virginia Woolf for its realism and psychological depth.
Transcripts
Hi everyone,
The tale of Genji is considered world’s first ever novel written exactly a thousand years
ago by a female author Shikibu Murasaki. In this video I will summarise the novel,
tell you about the author and its influence on Japanese literature as well as politics. At
the end I will tell you a few interesting things about the tale, so make sure you watch to the end.
First let me talk a little the about authors,.
Lady Murasaki (973 or 978 – c. 1014 or 1031)-was born to a Japanese noble
family called Fujiwara in the capital city of Kyoto. She was employed as a lady-in-waiting,
which basically means a tutor and personal poet for a princess at the Heian court, where she
was asked to write entertaining tales. As we can see in the Tale of Genji, it appears it’s
primarily written for a female audience. The sex in the city of the day. Or 50 shades of poetry.
Shikibu Murasaki is not her real name, simple means ceremonial purple.
In fact all the characters in the Tale of Genji are called by their rank,
not by name, so it can make the reading confusing. Even today in Japan,
there is a higher level of formality when it comes to names. Surnames or company names are
used more than first names. I sometimes think why we have names at all? We should just call
one another by the colour of clothes. Today I am purple and tomorrow yellow. So much fun.
Without her real name, some people think she didn't write it, also maybe because she was
woman. When you read her description of the masculine beauty quite obsessively there is
no doubt it was written by a woman. At the time, Japanese women were not allowed to use Chinese,
the language of technology and literature, considered a masculine space. But the irony
is that most of the text available today about the Heian period was written by women.
They most wrote in Kana writing system which today is mostly for children in Japan. Who
knows a thousand years from today, they discover what kids write these days.
Japan at the time was distancing itself from China as the Tang dynasty, the most innovative
and advanced empire, had declined. Japan was becoming more isolated and nationalistic.
Japanese art and literature was emerging from the shadow of the Chinese. This was also a
period of peace, as there is no mention of any wars in the Tale of Genji. Like Basil Fawlty,
don't mention the war. Even Genji’s political exile for two years is voluntary.
Now let me summarise the novel.
The Tale of Genji has 54 chapters that can be read separately, perhaps she wrote them
in instalment. It tells the story of Hikaru Genji, a prince and his romantic adventures
with women and his quest for meaning in life. Genji is the son of the emperor and a concubine,
therefore he’s not pure blood. With no royal duties, he chase women and smoke weed
like Prince Harry. He is not only beautiful as his name Hikaru means shining, he is also
a poet and a thinker and a very sensitive man, which women valued at the time. He’s in search
of a perfect woman, in doing so he sleeps with a lot of them, some are his wives and some through
secret affairs, some old, young, high rank, low rank. He even he has a child with his step-mother,
behind his father’s back. He doesn't get everyone he wants though. Some women refuse,
some escape and some become Buddhist nuns to stop all men from pursuing them.
Genji lost his mother at a young age, so he is infatuated with any woman who
resembles his mother. Wow, very Freudian. He kidnaps a 10-year old girl, Murasaki,
not the author but a girl who resembles Genji’s mother, in order to raise her as the perfect lady
and sleeps with her when she is only 12. She becomes a central character throughout the
novel and Genji seems to love her the most, but of course cheats on her a million times and her
suffering brings the most anguish for Genji. Her death seems to be his own end as well.
Genji is not just a womaniser or a playboy, he is nervous,
anxious, stressed of secrecy, has bad dreams and goes through the ups and downs of any romance.
Despite all this, he cannot stop. One could say he was obsessed with women,
but never satisfied. Other men go for women of power and money. But Genji’s motivation
seems to be purely romantic or sexual and always goes for the difficult or unusual relationships.
Most women can’t resist him either, as he seems to have everything, look,
brain and access to the royal court. There are no villains in conventional sense. One can say Genji
is the hero and a villain at the same time, as he causes a lot of miseries on his wives, especially
Murasaki. But there is one lady whose spirit seems to haunt everyone. Lady Rakujo. But even
she is not a real villain, so the book seems to suggest there is no good and evil and we are both.
The book covers some 70 years, all Genji’s romantic and political adventures.
After Genji’s death it takes a more pessimistic tone as it follows his
son’s and grandson’s romantic adventures. Genji’s death is marked by an empty chapter,
which is a clever storytelling device. The English author David Mitchell uses it in
his Number9Dream by leaving the last chapter empty, I’m currently reading
a Brazilian novel, which I will make a video later, also uses a similar device.
In those days married couples slept in different rooms, so this allows frequent
affairs to take place. A lot of communication happens through gestures and poetry. If you’re
expecting some hot, steamy sex scenes, you will be disappointed. You have to read between the lines
or read 50 Shades of Grey. The Tale of Genji is very subtle. The rustle of silken dress,
youthful voice, suppressed laughter, these are all you get, the rest? Your own imagination.
Despite not having a clear plot, The tale of Genji reads like a modern novel as the people
and their emotions are portrayed realistically, despite their archaic mode of communication.
Overall it is about love in all its forms, from the most beautiful,
poetic and sublime to the most ridiculous, tragic and
horrible. Romance in all its colours that even today’s novels find too risky to tackle.
Ok, now I am going to share things that I found interesting in this novel.
The main theme of the novel follows the Buddhist view that life is nothing but suffering. All
the affairs result in sorrow and anguish. Very little triumph. Sorrow is somewhat glorified as
beautiful instead of overt happiness. The Japanese concept mono no aware, which is literally means
everything is passing. A fleeting sadness that is beautiful. The most unique thing the Tale of Genji
offers is that for the first time in history we have an emotional record of a historical period.
Women cry a lot. Men define a perfect woman as loyal, cultured, passive and someone who
ignores a man’s shortcomings. Also she doesn't speaks the masculine, coarse Chinese language,
but speaks the feminine Japanese. And she is not concerned with politics. Interestingly, Japanese
people even today don't discuss politics openly. men and women. A perfect man? Good-looking, with
lots of skills, poetic but above all a sensitive man. Perhaps for the first time we read a woman’s
perspective on how they suffered throughout the history in the hands of men. However,
you get the feeling, Murasaki the author wasn't a big fan of many women, except the young Murasaki,
Genji’s beloved wife. The author Murasaki and Genji’s wife, Murasaki are not the same person.
On the surface we might think Genji has a fantastic life, lots of women, no real job to do,
always goes from one ceremony to another, and lives a luxurious life as a emperor’s son,
but most of the time he is in distress, and unhappy. With every new sexual conquest,
he has to suffer with anxiety that comes after. Which seems like the author is taking revenge
on men, but in reality she depicts a real person and who cannot help it. It appears Lady Murasaki
knew men so well that despite what most women thought of men as terrible for causing women
a lot of misery. But the author knows that on a deeper emotional level men are the losers.
At the end Genji acknowledges the suffering of women in the hands of men. His beloved wife,
Murasaki’s selflessness, sacrifices and silent suffering cause the most pain on
Genji. Roance is questioned here. It’s not the people involved, it is love itself that causes
misery. Very similar to Proust. We all desire things we cannot have. Love and jealousy are
inseparable. For as long as we love, we suffer. So a few women escape this vicious cycle of love,
jealousy and hate, by becoming Buddhist nuns. I suppose it has a buddhist message that in order
to be happy, you should really detach yourself from love, money and power and so forth.
Meiji period (1870-1912) Japan adopted western technology but went for everything Japanese as
opposed to Chinese. Shintoism became state religion, not Buddhism because it had come
from China. Nationalism demanded Japanese cultural identity. So intellectuals and scholars found the
Tale of Genji like a sacred text to show Japanese superiority. For example Shinobu Orikuchi,
a Japanese folklorist, asks what is China? He answers, the people who don't know the Tale of
Genji. Another intellectual, Eto Jun suggested that the West values patriarchy while Japan is
very maternal and points at this novel as evidence. Yamato-dammashi (or the Japanese
spirit) was first mentioned in this tale. Yamato is the name of Ancient Japan, before the contact
with China who named it Japan or the land where the sun rises from and the arrival of Buddhism.
Just remember at the Heian period, the Japanese loved everything about China and especially the
Tang Dynasty. Murasaki praises the Japanese spirit that grows within a Chinese education,
but later intellectuals and politicians understood the whole work as a Japanese and nothing else.
But today, most Japanese know the tale taught in schools, but very few people have read it.
I think it was the interest from the West that prompted the Japanese to value it even more.
The funny thing is that most Japanese today read the Tale of Genji in translation.
Why? It was written in court Japanese for the select few educated courtiers, very formal. It’s
taught in schools and with some level of special skills and dedication a Japanese
can understand it. The most accessible translation of The Tale of Genji into
English is The Tyler Genji of 2001 as it explains everything in the footnotes.
It’s not an easy read but it has a few famous fans. Jorge Luis Borges whom I
talked in my Argentine Literature video, was a huge fan for its depiction of human passion and
psychological depth. Virginia Wolf too loved this novel. It’s true Don Qixote
has a more Aristotelian structure of beginning, middle and end, but there is no doubt about the
level of realism and psychological depth in the Tale Genji to make it the first modern novel.
In the next video, I will compare this novel with the Persian epic of Shahnameh by Ferdowsi.
I am on a journey to read books and stories from every country on earth, so if you want to tag
along, please subscribe, share and comment, as it helps the channel. Thank you and happy reading!
関連動画をさらに表示
Japan in the Heian Period and Cultural History: Crash Course World History 227
#147 – Marcel Proust e os ecos do colossal Em Busca do Tempo Perdido
EL FILIBUSTERISMO (A LECTURE ON THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSE RIZAL)
MEMÓRIAS PÓSTUMAS - RESUMO E ANÁLISE Prof. Dra em Literatura pela USP
Shintoism Explained
BBC - The Buddha : Genius Of The Ancient World - Episode 1 (English Subtitle) HD
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)