Reading The Tale of Genji (eBook)

Thomas Harper is retired from the Centre for Japanese and Korean Studies at Leiden University. He is the translator of In Praise of Shadows and other essays by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, and the author of a number of scholarly articles on the reception of The Tale of Genji.Haruo Shirane, Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture at Columbia University, is the author and editor of numerous books on Japanese literature, including, most recently, Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons: Nature, Literature, and the Arts; Envisioning The Tale of Genji: Media, Gender, and Cultural Production; Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600; Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900; Classical Japanese: A Grammar; Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Basho; and A Bridge of Dreams: A Poetics of The Tale of Genji.

IllustrationsAbbreviationsChapter Titles of The Tale of GenjiIntroduction1. Early Discussions of FictionKagero Diary, by The Mother of MichitsunaEarlier Collected Poems of the Great Kamo Priestess, by Princess SenshiPreface to The Illustrated Three Treasures, by Minamoto no TamenoriThe Pillow Book, by Sei ShonagonThe Tale of Genji, by Murasaki ShikibuThe Diary of Murasaki Shikibu, by Murasaki ShikibuSarashina Diary, by The Daughter of Sugawara no Takasue2. Genji Gossip (Plus a Bit of Good Advice)A Nameless NotebookThe ListsForty-Eight Exemplars from GenjiA Key to GenjiExemplars from Genji[Untitled]The MatchesThe Feelings of People in Genji: A Match (Awa no kuni bunko text)Genji: A ContestThe Feelings of People in Genji: A Match (Suzuki manuscript)The Women in Ise and Genji: A Match in Twelve RoundsThe Nursemaid's Letter, by Abutsu3. Toward CanonizationSenzaishu, by Fujiwara no Shunzei and Kitamura KiginPoetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds, by Fujiwara no Shunzei"Lord Shunzei's Memorial in Japanese Script, Submitted in 1200", by Fujiwara no ShunzeiExplicating Murasaki, by SojakuDiary of the Juntoku Retired Emperor, by The Juntoku Retired EmperorFull Moon Diary, by Fujiwara no TeikaOral Transmissions of the GoToba Retired Emperor, by The GoToba Retired EmperorConversations with the Kyogoku Middle Counselor, by Fujiwara no NagatsunaPreface to Sino-Japanese Poems on The Tale of the Shining Genji4. Obsequies for GenjiThe Mirror of the Present, by Fujiwara no TametsuneCollected Poems of the Mother of Acting Middle Counselor Lord Saneki, by The Mother of Acting Middle Counselor Lord SanekiCollection of Fujiwara no Takanobu, by Fujiwara no Takanobu New Imperial Collection of Poetry, by Fujiwara no Muneie"A Dedicatory Proclamation for The Tale of Genji", by ChokenThe Story of Obsequies for Genji, by Seikaku5. The Tale of Genji Apocrypha"Pillowed upon His Arm", by Motoori NorinagaThe "Sakurahito" FragmentsThe Six "Hidden in Cloud" ChaptersThe "Sumori" Fragments"Dew on the Mountain Path"6. Medieval Commentary"Notes on the Rainy Night's Discussion", by SogiKaoku's Gleanings, by Kaoku GyokueiGyokuei's Collection, by Kaoku GyokueiThe Moonlit Lake Commentary, by Kitamura Kigin7. Edo-Period TreatisesDiscursive Commentary on Genji, by Kumazawa BanzanSeven Essays on Murasaki Shikibu, by Ando TameakiraThe Tale of Genji: A Little Jeweled Comb, by Motoori NorinagaFrom Blossoms to Moonlight, by Matsudaira SadanobuA Critical Appraisal of Genji, by Hagiwara Hiromichi8. Modern ReceptionIntroduction to Genji Monogatari: The Most Celebrated of the Classical Japanese Romances, by Suematsu KenchoThe Essence of the Novel, by Tsubouchi ShoyoPreface to A New Exegesis of The Tale of Genji, by Sassa Seisetsu"Upon Finishing Shin'yaku Genji monogatari", by Yosano AkikoAfterword to Shin-shin'yaku Genji monogatari, by Yosano Akiko"The Tale of Genji: The First Volume of Mr. Arthur Waley's Translation of a Great Japanese Novel by the Lady Murasaki", by Virginia Woolf"On Reading the Classics", by Masamune Hakucho"On Translating The Tale of Genji into Modern Japanese" Tanizaki Jun'ichiroIndex