Reading Tale of Genji
For years I’ve been wanting to read The Tale of Genji. What stopped me was a feeling that I needed a guide. Maybe I could find a class? And then last summer, over at the Conversational Reading blog, I found out a group calling itself The Summer of Genji was going to read and discuss the book online. Sadly, last summer I was in the middle of moving from one city to another. So it was My Summer Without Genji.
But now I’m sorta settled in and decided it was now or never. I bought Penguin Classics deluxe edition translated by Royall Tyler (recommended by The Summer of Genji) and plunged in. I have to say, I’m really liking the Tyler translation. It flows beautifully and I get this strange sensation that I’m reading the original Japanese (the original was written 1000 years ago and is apparently too difficult for the average Japanese to read, the court language the author used being so arcane). A wonderful thing about the Tyler version is that before each chapter, there’s a list of people who will be appearing, along with their bios. And of course, there are tons of footnotes that help you feel your way through this very different culture of the Heian aristocracy.
The first chapter, which I’d read before, is the story of Genji’s parents. (Spoiler Alert) His father is the emperor and his mother is the great love of his father’s life. Sadly, Genji’s mother doesn’t have the right connections at court so is prone to severe bullying. This leads to her tragic death.
I’ve always felt sorry for Genji’s mother. It’s not her fault the emperor can’t live without her. Did she actually enjoy all that attention? In fact, I get the feeling she was pretty miserable being at his constant beck and call. No wonder the poor thing died.
She’s an interesting contrast to the scheming women you hear about in Chinese history or watch in historical dramas. These women do anything to capture power, including killing their own babies. Genji’s mother is more like Bai Yu’s sister, the imperial concubine who died serving the emperor (The Story of the Stone). It’s hard to imagine how incredibly stressful it must have been to be at court, to be a concubine.
