Tale of Genji: a Reader's Guide
Paperback – Illustrated, September 15, 2009
Tuttle Publishing · Paperback · September 15, 2009
"Those who wish to deepen their acquaintance with Murasaki's wondrous world will certainly find Puette's guide most helpful." —The Japan Times This is the most complete reader's guide available on Japan's highly revered novel, the eleventh-century classic, The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, referred to by Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata as the "highest pinnacle of Japanese literature." Written specifically to accompany the translation of the work by Arthur Waley and Edward G. Seidensticker, this guide offers detailed summaries and thematic commentaries, as well as cross-referenced notes on the novel's many characters.
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- Who it’s for
- General readers and literature students interpreting The Tale of Genji
- Themes
- Heian Japanese culture, Buddhist and Shinto traditions, Karma in human relationships
- Genres
- Japanese Literary Criticism, Literary Criticism Reference
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"Those who wish to deepen their acquaintance with Murasaki's wondrous world will certainly find Puette's guide most helpful." —The Japan Times This is the most complete reader's guide available on Japan's highly revered novel, the eleventh-century classic, The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, referred to by Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata as the "highest pinnacle of Japanese literature."
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Written specifically to accompany the translation of the work by Arthur Waley and Edward G. Seidensticker, this guide offers detailed summaries and thematic commentaries, as well as cross-referenced notes on the novel's many characters. It also charts the essential progress of The Tale of Genji and introduces the reader to the more subtle complexities, literary devices, and conventions of Lady Murasaki's Heian Japan. No longer does the reader have to try and guess the novel's cultural and historical milieu. The author presents brief, illustrated essays on historical, philosophical, and cultural features of the novel, and discusses such relevant aspects as the balance between the tenets of Shintoism and Buddhism, the pervasive concepts of karma in human relationships, and the poetic aspects of aware. Both general readers and literature students will find the background information contained in this "companion" indispensable to their reading and interpretation of this complex novel.
Where it sits
| Japanese Literary Criticism | 95% |
|---|---|
| Literary Criticism Reference | 31% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- The Classics
- War Fiction
- Japanese Literary Criticism
- Authors
- William J. Puette
- Publisher
- Tuttle Publishing
- Published
- September 15, 2009
- Format
- Paperback
- Theme
- Heian Japanese culture · Buddhist and Shinto traditions · Karma in human relationships
- Reading lane
- The Classics