Comments on: The Tale of Genji is 1000!

The Tale of Genji is 1000!

GenjiandProust — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 07:09:41 -0800

The Tale of Genji turned 1000 years old sometime around now, and Japan is celebrating with parties and dressing up. This lengthy rambling narrative may be the world's first novel, although that depends on how you define "first" and "novel." For the person who is technophilic and literary, there is a very cool robot that reads it to you (in Japanese -- sorry). Sadly, it is only a prototype. There is a recent board game, however. More useful links previously.

By: GenjiandProust

GenjiandProust — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 07:11:58 -0800

Economist and NYT articles via the sharp eyes of kattullus. Also, the Genji video games, are sadly, not about the Tale...

By: darkripper

darkripper — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 07:38:52 -0800

so no giant enemy crabs in the novel?

By: GenjiandProust

GenjiandProust — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 07:52:00 -0800

Sadly, no. But there are a lot of poems! Which would make an awesome video game. Like DDR, except with Heian-era poetry!

By: bardic

bardic — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 08:10:32 -0800

Samuel Richardson and Daniel Defore can suck it. Srsly.

By: HopperFan

HopperFan — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:24:00 -0800

Ooo, I was just re-reading this. I didn't know that its anniversary was coming up. It certainly is rambling, though. Not so much in the beginning, but after his early adulthood.

By: y2karl

y2karl — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:20:40 -0800

It certainly is rambling, though. But it rambles through such a world, where one can become so sweetly lost--not unlike The Story of the Stone, which some know under the title of The Dream of the Red Chamber or, for that matter, that work to which the second half of the post's author eponysterical cognomen alludes, A Remembrance of Things Past , which some call In Search of Lost Time. The delight is in the details sometimes, and the more elaborate, the better.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:58:27 -0800

Gah! I can't take it anymore. I'm going to Japan this year if I have to stow away on a freighter. Preferably one with a poorly-guarded mess hall.

By: HopperFan

HopperFan — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:01:41 -0800

I didn't say I didn't like the rambling. If I didn't, I wouldn't be on the fourth (or maybe fifth, I can't remember) re-reading of it.

By: bluefly

bluefly — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:59:29 -0800

This book is such a window into another world. The description of daily life in old Japan are amazing. I liked learning that if a guy could break through the defenses of a house to get to a girl's room and sleep with her three nights in a row, he effectively was married to her. I also liked the descriptions of the women; it's really interesting to see what they considered to be beautiful in ancient Japan. It's a really great epic to read.