About the Author
J. Thomas Rimer is Professor of Japanese Literature at the University of Pittsburgh. In acknowledgment of his cultural contributions on behalf of Japanese literature, he was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, by the Japanese government.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[The following is the beginning of the chapter on "The Tale of Genji."]
The Tale of Genji Murasaki Shikibu Genji monogatari Novel. Eleventh Century
Kawabata Yasunari, in his 1968 Nobel prize acceptance speech, spoke of the influence on him, and on all Japanese writers, past and present, of Lady Murasaki's vast and moving Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari). "Genji is a miracle," he said, "and it is as a miracle that the book is known abroad." Some have compared the sophistication of Lady Murasaki's insights into the court society of her period with those of Marcel Proust's on French society at the turn of the century. Both created galaxies of characters who, in their comings and goings, their moments of personal insight, and their ambiguous feelings over their own worldly commitments, are absolutely authentic and, once the frames of reference are grasped, totally recognizable by modern readers.
Given the power of the tale and its influence on such diverse traditional Japanese arts as the No theater, painting, and waka poetry, to say nothing of the effect the text has had on such modern writers as Tanizaki and Kawabata, it is no wonder that the novel (to use our modern term, which can serve only as a rough and approximate means of identification) has spawned a whole tradition of literary criticism in Japan. Now that the book has become relatively well-known in the West as well, through translations into English, German, and French, the secondary literature in those languages is also growing apace. It is impossible to sum up all the critical points of view available; still, there is no question but that the subtle complexities of Lady Murasaki's conception certainly deserve extended commentary. The novel, however, can be fully enjoyed and savored without this body of knowledge, which may extend the significance of the text but can in no way replace it. Like all great w! orks of literature, The Tale of Genji is more moving than anything that can be said about it.
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