Review: The Tale of Genji
Shikibu, Murasaki. The Tale of Genji. 1021. Ed. and Trans. Kencho Suematsu. 1900.
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The Story Of How Genji Accumulates A Harem And Tries To Keep It That Way
Yeah, so, this book took me forever to finish reading! Almost a month! (I think; I didn't check before opening this window to write the review, and now I'm too lazy to go back.) It's not because I didn't enjoy reading it - I certainly did, as courtly love always amuses me - but it's written in such a style as to seem like a series of interconnected short stories of vignettes, so that each chapter stood alone while still being connected. That doesn't make for speedy reading, for me; instead, I'm inclined to read one section and then put the book down before starting on the next one, as it's all started and wrapped up in the same part.
The translation, on the other hand, hardly got in the way. I read an abridged version, and given the amount of time it took me to finish this novel, I'm glad I did. It was easy to follow, and the footnotes were comprehensible, so I never had to conduct my own research to look up references or figure out what was going on. I never felt as though I was missing large chunks of the story... and the one time I would have missed something that was vital to the plots the novel was following, a footnote explained it all very well. So no complaints there whatsoever.
On to the story itself. The Tale of Genji can be summed up as I suggested in my joke title, really. Genji LOVES the womens, and I mean LOVES them - in a courtly, almost appropriate manner, anyway. He's a nice enough guy, but that's his one failing, and he does a lot of stupid things because he's taken by this girl or that. I do like that he's not infinitely suave, and he doesn't get away with everything... and that sympathy can be had, and I think is intended, for characters such as his cold wife (who is understandably upset about the whole sleeping around thing).
My favorite chapter is probably one of the earlier ones, where a bunch of Genji's (male) friends get together and talk about how difficult it is to find the perfect woman, what qualities she should have, and how their various relationships went wrong (all of which, btw, were labeled by them as the woman's fault, not theirs - despite that their own behavior was pretty bad). I found it extremely funny, and I think that the whole book was worth reading just for that chapter.
All in all, this was a pretty good read (though as I said before, I'm glad I got the abridged version; I can't imagine how long it would have taken me to get through the whole freaking thing). It gave me some laughs, Genji was a deeper character than I expected (though to be fair I wasn't expecting much), and it was full of neat little ancient Japanese quirks. So good times were to be had on my end. Your mileage may vary.
Next: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J. K. Rowling
-or-
The Story Of How Genji Accumulates A Harem And Tries To Keep It That Way
Yeah, so, this book took me forever to finish reading! Almost a month! (I think; I didn't check before opening this window to write the review, and now I'm too lazy to go back.) It's not because I didn't enjoy reading it - I certainly did, as courtly love always amuses me - but it's written in such a style as to seem like a series of interconnected short stories of vignettes, so that each chapter stood alone while still being connected. That doesn't make for speedy reading, for me; instead, I'm inclined to read one section and then put the book down before starting on the next one, as it's all started and wrapped up in the same part.
The translation, on the other hand, hardly got in the way. I read an abridged version, and given the amount of time it took me to finish this novel, I'm glad I did. It was easy to follow, and the footnotes were comprehensible, so I never had to conduct my own research to look up references or figure out what was going on. I never felt as though I was missing large chunks of the story... and the one time I would have missed something that was vital to the plots the novel was following, a footnote explained it all very well. So no complaints there whatsoever.
On to the story itself. The Tale of Genji can be summed up as I suggested in my joke title, really. Genji LOVES the womens, and I mean LOVES them - in a courtly, almost appropriate manner, anyway. He's a nice enough guy, but that's his one failing, and he does a lot of stupid things because he's taken by this girl or that. I do like that he's not infinitely suave, and he doesn't get away with everything... and that sympathy can be had, and I think is intended, for characters such as his cold wife (who is understandably upset about the whole sleeping around thing).
My favorite chapter is probably one of the earlier ones, where a bunch of Genji's (male) friends get together and talk about how difficult it is to find the perfect woman, what qualities she should have, and how their various relationships went wrong (all of which, btw, were labeled by them as the woman's fault, not theirs - despite that their own behavior was pretty bad). I found it extremely funny, and I think that the whole book was worth reading just for that chapter.
All in all, this was a pretty good read (though as I said before, I'm glad I got the abridged version; I can't imagine how long it would have taken me to get through the whole freaking thing). It gave me some laughs, Genji was a deeper character than I expected (though to be fair I wasn't expecting much), and it was full of neat little ancient Japanese quirks. So good times were to be had on my end. Your mileage may vary.
Next: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J. K. Rowling