[(Genji and Heike: Selections from the "Tale of Genji" and the "Tale of the Heike")] [Author: Helen Craig McCullough] published on

源氏物語

by Helen Craig McCullough

[(Genji and Selections from the "Tale of Genji" and the "Tale of the Heike")] [ Helen Craig McCullough] published on (June, 1994) paperback

Genres: Japan, Classics, History, Literature, School, Read For School, Japanese Literature

Paperback

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Helen Craig McCullough (February 17, 1918 – April 6, 1998) was an American academic, translator, and Japanologist. She is best known for her 1988 translation of The Tale of the Heike.

Reviews

[Biblio Curious · Rating 5 out of 5]

This edition translated by Helen Craig McCullough from Stanford Uni Press contains selections from both of Japan's national epics: Tale of Genji & Tale of Heike. Her translation is steeped in beauty reminiscent of traditional Japanese culture. She uses phrases that emphasizes the spiritual elements of nature such as:

"It would never do to carry off such a fragile, helpless creature to a cheerless shore where the winds and waves would be their only visitors..."

"'The Heike have produced generations of poets and other talented figures. People used to compare them to flowers - and Shigehira was the peony, they said.'"

She does use some modern words but they fit with the 'high brow' nature of the story and make the reading experience a bit more academic. These epics are about the Emperor and those around him, so academic words don't bog down the story in anyway. Some examples "diffident, placid front, exemplar of refinement"

If you'd like to read these 2 epics but don't have the time to read them in their entirety, this could be a suitable edition for getting started. Keep in mind, this edition is a mere selection assembled into a novel format. An abridgement would contain many more of the stories. So with this edition, you'll be missing the majority of the story.

I'll link a fuller review with other translations & more resources later.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whenever I go into reading a work of ancient literature, I just assume I'll hate it.
I always forget that ancient literature almost ALWAYS reads like the wildest soap opera that ABC regrets never airing. The Young and the Restless who?
Genji was the original soft fuckboy. Yeah he cries and dances and writes poetry and shit but like he also sleeps with everyone and their mother and also his own stepmother. He causes a carriage battle between rich girls. Ladies, ladies, come the fuck on, you're all so much better than this idiot pedophile anyway, he's not worth ruining your pretty carriage and getting literally possessed. Now that I think about it this is basically Gossip Girl but set in premodern Japan and insane. What a way to birth unto the world the concept of The Novel.
(Why did I have to write my paper on the portrayal of nature in premodern Japanese lit? Guaranteed that paper would have been a masterpiece if it could have been about Genji being the OG soft fuckboy. If I ever go into postgraduate studies of literature I'm 100% writing my thesis about the evolution of the fuckboy in literature omg)

(I only read Genji bc my eyes would glaze over and crack into little bitty pieces and fall out and I would die if I did all the reading that's assigned to me every week but I'm marking the whole damn thing as finished anyway bc I'll be damned if the trillion years I spent reading Genji doesn't count for something towards my challenge!!)

[Evan Doi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genji: 1.5, Heike: 4.

I had some problems with the way the translation was dealt with. The principal characters list could’ve been worked a little better (main subjects of many subsections of chapters were not mentioned, not translated before, or in the principal characters list/master principal characters list). I also think that the non translated chapters could have been summarized a bit better (mostly in reference to the fact that random people would just show up, be the main driving force of a subsection, die, and then be heavily mourned. Like ??? Not in the principal list but the dude is a focal point like ???). I haven’t read any other translations of these works, and I don’t know what’s common place, but this edition had some plot summary before some chapters but omitted summary before others.

My issues with the translation (phrases used like so-and-so, wishy-washy, and the sort and the aforementioned non translated chapter summaries) have me placing it a 2 stars not 3 stars.

Genji is less interesting than Heike but to be fair Heian era is less interesting than Kamakura era. Still, Genji did kidnap a child and wanna fuck her sooo…shout out Yoritomo for burying kids alive. At least their trauma was temporary.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

oof long read, old story. could be worse but not a favorite

[Lindsay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst shit i've read since the scarlet letter. First part was reasonable, second part was terrible. The first part: Tale of Genji was an actual story so that was better to follow, but Tale of Heike is just a bunch of characters and random tid bits of story - hard to follow and not very interesting...

[Lisa Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished, I found that my sleeves were inexplicably soaked with tears.

---

Yes to the non-Western canon. The original marriage plot novel. God I really loved this. Destined love? Yeah.

[Lilac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good insight on Japanese literature. I especially loved the female characters of the Genji, but I am joining the bandwagon of not liking Genji. Sure he thought he was a good person and had trauma, but was it really so hard to see the common denominator of the problems and literal deaths?!?? I also liked the writing style. On the other hand, the Heike was not something I would usually pick up

[Tallulah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the abridged Tale of Genji for an East Asian literature class at my university and loved it. It’s a great introduction to the novel and fantastic translation. One of the best things I’ve read this year.

[• Domeniko • · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.90

[Blake]

this is good genji translation fyi
heike is sad wish that beautiful boy did not fall off his horse rip

[Daniel Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, This is an abridged version of the "Tale of Genji", called the world's first novel. The setting is interesting, in fact it's hard to believe it's so livid considering this book is.... over a thousand years old? Is that right?
The original spans some thousand pages, and is mainly about this prince genji, a beautiful young womanizer. This version I read, however, for my asian history class, was focused on the bloody feudal war between the Genji and Heike clans, and much of it would pass off well written as fantasy today. Descriptions of bold heroes, legendary weapons, political twists, demons, and gory battles. Honestly, a very surprisingly cool read. I gave it a 4, but maybe should have given a 3 because, well, you sort of have to be in a certain mood, or of a certain mindset in the first place to enjoy it.

[Staci Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Supposedly, the Tale of Heike is the most notorious of stories in Ancient Japan... for me, it was a long read with dreary, confusing, and tedious Japanese names!! I enjoyed the Tale of Genji way more, even if its not as famous. This was written by one of the first female writers to take over literacy in a male world, but it definitely feels like a man wrote it -- props to her. I loved the intruding poems that randomly appeared... thought those were very beautiful and demonstrated the Buddhist morals that influenced the awesome Heian period.

[Jenna]

Only read the first several chapters of the two books for a Japanese literature class. Genji seems alright, very dramatic, not sure if I'm going to pursue the rest of it, though. Heike is convoluted with many names that are hard to keep track of. I'm not a fan of war stories in the first place so I'm not likely to read any more of it.

[Stephanie Frame · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked The Tale of Genji much more than I liked The Tale of the Heike. Heike had way too many characters and way too many very minor details.

[Aneesa]

Perhaps what I need is a different translation?

[sanaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The joy of reading Genjimonogatari is beyond imagination.

[Jessica St-pierre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contrary to most readers, while I didn't read every single chapter of either books, I much preferred the Heike over the Genji, probably due to its ( admittedly shaky) historical roots. McCullough's comments are on point. I'm also glad this edition has the late 13th chapter of the Heike, which is one of my favorite among the ones I did read.
I guess it's a must read for Japanese majors but I probably would not go through it again. Too many names and quite dry. I respect the works for what they are and the monumental translation work, but yeah.