What do you think about Genji Monogatari

[Lotorie]

The teacher has just began to talk about it.

Shall I read it?
Is it a good book?
Is it really representative of Heian period ?

 

[pipokun]

So many characters, so it was good for me to read the manga first.

http://www.kodanclub.com/cgi-local/comic.cgi?id=999-00135-01-001
Asakiyumemishi

But no french translation...

PUBLISHED IN:
Japan / Germany / Switzerland (German) / Austria (German) / China / Taiwan / Thailand / Indonesia

It was really interesting for me the author created a super jealous woman, la dame de la sixième avenue, more than 1000 years ago.

Traduction française
Une magnifique édition de réference, dans, bien sûr, la traduction de René Sieffert: 500 illustrations de la peinture japonaise du 12e au 17e siècle, accompagnées chacune d'un commentaire iconographique. 3 volumes + 1 livret «A la découverte du Dit du Genji» sous coffret illustré, 1280 pages, valisette de transport, Diane de Selliers,éditeur, 2007.
Le Dit du Genji — Wikipédia

I wish to read the great French book, but it would take anther 1000 years to read it with my poor French skill.

 

[Lotorie]

As for me, it would take 1000 years to read it with my poor Japanese skill.

And, in Classical japanese too!

I read the first chapter... of the french translation... and, well, kind of like it!

 

[hanachan]

I like Genji Monogatari.
I confess that I haven't finished whole story, yet. I read some episodes, maybe most famous ones.

If you are interested in this story, you also enjoy manga of Genji.
It will help you imagine how people live in the story.
Asaki yume mishi — Wikipédia
The Tale of Genji (manga) - Wikipedia

Genji is a playboy who loves a lot of women. But he is different from Don Juan or Casanova. Because Genji is created by female writer. Genji is not men's fantasy, he is an ideal man women dream...
Japanese women of 1000 years ago were very passionate and progressive... rather avant-garde hahaha...

 

[Chi65]

I have read the whole story in German here some time ago, plus the Manga, which is also out in German for a while.
I enjoyed it very much. One reason was also, because the description was about someone, who was not afraid to show feelings, which for men has been very downgraded in our history for long. Also the closeness of a man to the moon thus is interesting, since here this belongs traditionally (even if wrong, but the Christians divided it in this way. . .) to the women.
Better and more fair would be "female" side.
Since in Japan the moon is (at least, thought to be) male, to my knowledge, it was more than interesting, since it shows, that feelings are (were?) not downgraded.
We also had several films from Asia in general at that time (90ties), about men and feelings, also represented by stories of men that are not shy to cry, for example (The filmers were very well men, btw, which we found additionally interesting).
My Japanese male friends very well confirmed, that men do not feel ashamed, to be moon related, show (romantic) feelings, for example, at least those, that I know.
I wonder, how this is a few years later.

In old China, someone who could not do so, was thought to be immature, if not dangerous btw. There are similar old stories. ("The dream of the red chamber", for example)

 

[anjusan]

I highly recommend

I thought 'The Tale of Genji' was absolutely brilliant. Although, it probably makes a bit of difference depending upon which translation you choose. This will affect how much you will actually get out of it. I have heard some of the early translations left rather a lot to be desiredﾂ… And, of course, a lot would depend on whether or not the translated version in your language was done from the original Japanese or one of the early translationsﾂ…

If you are comfortable in English, I highly recommend the Royall Tyler edition.

Tale of Genji

"ﾂ…The original is remarkable for its use of inner speech: passages that take the reader inside the head of a character by transcribing the character's silent thoughts. This technique seems largely to have been devised by the author herself, and it can be strikingly vivid. However, it is not particularly familiar in English, and previous translations have turned these thoughts into the third person past ("She thought that she preferred not to..."). I started out doing the same thing, but I soon shifted to first person present (" 'I would rather not,' she thought"), which yields an effect much closer to that of the original. In my translation these passages therefore have an especially fresh immediacy.

For an English reader the tale is also unusual in that it includes nearly 800 poems. These are an essential element of the text, one that many readers over the centuries have valued even above the prose. However, they are extremely difficult to translate effectively, and at the start I never imagined that I had the ability to do so. I did not want to betray the poetry, of course, but in practice my main concern was simply to make sure that reader should not trip over every poem the way someone walking along a path might trip over a rock. My initial solution to the problem seemed adequate at the time, but near the end of the first complete draft the result became intolerable even to me, and I realized that I would have to retranslate all the poems into a new format. So I did. To my astonishment, I then found that many of these new poems lived and breathed in a way I had thought impossible. Far from posing an obstacle to the flow of the prose, they seemed to lift it to new heights. I now dare to hope that my translation is the first to convey simply and immediately some of the effect of the original poetryﾂ…"

It took me about a month to finishﾂ… but it was well worth it, and I was sorry when I read the final word and it was overﾂ… I should like to read it again when I have the timeﾂ…

 

[GodEmperorLeto]

I've said it before, I'll say it again--Genji is essentially a 10th century soap opera. Some people might like it. I find it incredibly boring mostly. Not to say that it is not a great work of literature--it is. I'm just not equipped to appreciate it. I've come across other works of ancient (and modern) Japanese literature that I much prefer. My friend has his MA in Japanese, and he despises Genji with a horrid passion, preferring things like 日本書紀 (Nihon Shoki). Other members of his department were totally enamoured with it. A lot of it is a matter of taste. Nevertheless, it is a seminal piece of Japanese literature, and that alone can make it worth its reputation.

 

[bachir]

unfortunately not available in french !

still not equipped to be able to read it...zannnnnnnnnneeeeeeeennnn :auch:
need to wait the french version

anyway, it was quite instructive because i've been looking forward to reading it.

 

[igormalusevic]

Genji Monogatari?!?! This book is REALY GREAT!
Specialy Story about FISH FROM THE DREAM.
I LOVE JAPAN!!!!!

 

[lonesoullost3]

The Royall Tyler edition is what has always been recommended to me by scholars of Japanese literature. I myself have only read excerpts, perhaps the beginning fourth of the entirety, but I do plan on sitting down and reading it in Japanese in a year or so hopefully, once my Japanese is up to par. Be aware that the book doesn't describe Heian life of the masses, but Heian court life, which is another story entirely (pardon the pun). What I find to be quite interesting about the book is the on-going debate over Yugao's fate (not-stated so I wont' spoil the fun for future readers).