Product Description

The first complete new translation for 25 years of the acknowledged masterpiece of Japanese literature. Lady Murasaki's great 11th century novel is a beautifully crafted story of love, betrayal and death at the Imperial Court. At the core of this epic is Prince Genji, the son of an emperor, whose passionate character, love affairs and shifting political fortunes, offer an equisite glimpse of the golden age of Japan. Royal Tyler's superb new translation is scrupulously true to the Japanese original but appeals immeadiately to the modern reader. This edition also includes notes, glossaries, character lists and a chronology to enable the reader to appreciate the richness of this classic of world literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31204 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1216 pages

About the Author
Murasaki Shikibu (c. 970-1015) was a member of one of the most powerful dynasties in Japan and the author of a diary which reveals much about court life in Japan. Royall Tyler taught Japanese religion and literature at the Australian National University and has published widely on Japanese literature. He translated Japanese No Dramas for Penguin Classics.

Customer Reviews

ancient, and very impressive
I recently bought this Japanese classic and if you know how many pages it encompasses, you will not be surprised that I haven't finished it yet - for it takes quite some time to read it, let alone take it all in, especially since the story is set and written in a remote past and is culturally unfamiliar.
And yet - I love it already. It's been described as the first psychological novel, and it's easy to see why. The characters in the book aren't always very recognisable for us in terms of morality or philosophy, but I find them all very human and likeable. The book is infused with 'thinking' (like discussions on relationships and one's position in life) and an important feature is poetry: the main character Genji receives and dispatches a lot of subtle poetry (2 lines at a time) that emphasises the loftiness and grandeur of the whole work.

As I know only this translation I'm not able to tell how much of the appeal of "Genji" for the modern reader can be attributed to the translator, but clearly he has done an excellent job: it is all very, very readable and the notes are all very informative and give insight into what would otherwise be obscure references and details. And I love the physical side of the book as well: it is hefty, the paper used is pleasing to touch, many japanese style drawings enliven and instruct the reader and the whole layout exudes a refinement that supports the contents.

In short: a magnificent book in many ways. And I'm sure that if you pick up this classic you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Best translation
The Tale of Genji is a deservedly famous classic, and doesn't need me to patronise it.
This is a better translation than Seidensticker's

Bad printing quality
I bought already two copies of this book, one for me, one as a present. I think it's a shame that Penguin took such a high quality book, took so much pains with edition, annotations, illustrations and so on...and printed it on bad quality paper, with the pages unevenly cut, some of them still stuck together, thus lowering the overall quality of the product. I even had to send back one of the books, because it had misprints and smears on the pages.