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The Tale of Genji, Volumes 1 and 2 Author: Murasaki Shikibu Translator: Feng Zikai Publisher: People's Literature Publishing House
The Tale of Genji, Volumes 1 and 2 Author: Murasaki Shikibu Translator: Feng Zikai Publisher: People's Literature Publishing House
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Description
Introduction · · · · · ·
The Tale of Genji is set in the heyday of the Heian Dynasty in Japan. Through the life experience and love story of the protagonist Genji, it describes the corrupt politics, promiscuous life, mutual oppression and power struggle among the upper aristocrats in the society at that time. Genji's love and marriage reveal the tragic fate of women under polygamy. In the aristocratic society, men marrying women is often a means of political struggle, and women become tools of political transactions and playthings in the hands of aristocratic men. The book has a total of 54 chapters and nearly one million words. The story involves four generations of emperors, more than 70 years, and more than 400 characters. The book is centered on the Genji family. The first half describes the various sad or beautiful love lives of Prince Genji and his concubines and maids; the second half takes Prince Genji's son Kaoru as the protagonist, laying out the complex and complicated love entanglements between men and women.
About the Author · · · · · ·
Murasaki Shikibu, whose original surname was Fujiwara, was originally named unknown. Because her elder brother was the Shikibu-sho, she was called Fujishikibu. This was a fashion among the court ladies, who often used their fathers and brothers' official titles as their names to show their identities. Later, she wrote The Tale of Genji, and the heroine Murasaki was widely known, so she was also called Murasaki Shikibu. The author's birth and death dates are also unknown, but she was probably born in 978 and died in 1015. Murasaki Shikibu was born into a middle-class aristocratic family and was a talented woman from a scholarly family. Her great-grandfather, grandfather, uncle and brother were all famous poets, and her father was good at Chinese poetry and Japanese songs, and had a deep understanding of Chinese classical literature. The author learned Chinese poetry from her father since she was a child, and was familiar with ancient Chinese literature, especially the poems of Bai Juyi. In addition, she was also very familiar with music and Buddhist scriptures. Unfortunately, her family fell into decline, and she married Fujiwara Nobutaka, a local official who was more than 20 years older than her. Soon after the marriage, her husband died, and she lived a lonely widow's life. Later, she was summoned by the then ruler Fujiwara no Michinaga to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shoko, explaining the Nihon Shoki and the poems of Bai Juyi to Shoko. She had the opportunity to directly contact the life of the palace, gain a comprehensive understanding of the misfortunes of women and the inside story of the palace, and also felt the decline of the aristocracy. All these provided her with a broad space for artistic conception and a solid life foundation for her creation of The Tale of Genji.
Table of contents · · · · · ·
