The Diary recorded by Lady Murasaki (c. 973-c. 1020), author of The Tale of Genji, is an intimate picture of her life as tutor and companion to the young Empress Shoshi. Told in a series of vignettes, it offers revealing glimpses of the Japanese imperial palace - the auspicious birth of a prince, rivalries between the Emperor's consorts, with sharp criticism of Murasaki's fellow ladies-in-waiting and drunken courtiers, and telling remarks about the timid Empress and her powerful father, Michinaga. The Diary is also a work of great subtlety and intense personal reflection, as Murasaki makes penetrating insights into human psychology - her pragmatic observations always balanced by an exquisite and pensive melancholy.

Diary of Lady Murasaki (Penguin Classics)

Biographies & Memoirs

Shikibu, Murasaki

Community & Culture

Penguin Classics

The world’s first novel, in a translation that is “likely to be the definitive edition . . . for many years to come” (The Wall Street Journal) The inspiration behind The Metropolitan Museum of Art's "The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated" -- Now through June 16 at The Met Fifth Avenue A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, with flaps and deckle-edged paper Written in the eleventh century, this exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the world’s first novel. Genji, the Shining Prince, is the son of an emperor. He is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances, and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic. Royall Tyler’s superior translation is detailed, poetic, and superbly true to the Japanese original while allowing the modern reader to appreciate it as a contemporary treasure. Supplemented with detailed notes, glossaries, character lists, and chronologies to help the reader navigate the multigenerational narrative, this comprehensive edition presents this ancient tale in the grand style that it deserves.

The Tale of Genji: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Literature & Fiction

Literary

An abridged edition of the world’s first novel, in a translation that is “likely to be the definitive edition . . . for many years to come” (The Wall Street Journal) The inspiration behind The Metropolitan Museum of Art's "The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated" -- Now through June 16 at The Met Fifth Avenue A Penguin Classic Written in the eleventh century, this exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the world’s first novel—and is certainly one of its finest. Genji, the Shining Prince, is the son of an emperor. He is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances, and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic. Royall Tyler’s superior translation is detailed, poetic, and superbly true to the Japanese original while allowing the modern reader to appreciate it as a contemporary treasure. In this deftly abridged edition, Tyler focuses on the early chapters, which vividly evoke Genji as a young man and leave him at his first moment of triumph. This edition also includes detailed notes, glossaries, character lists, and chronologies.

The Tale of Genji (Penguin Classics)

United States

“A fluid, elegant rendition.” ―Washington Post
Murasaki Shikibu, born into the middle ranks of the aristocracy during the Heian period (794–1185 CE), wrote The Tale of Genji―widely considered the world’s first novel―during the early years of the eleventh century. Expansive, compelling, and sophisticated in its representation of ethical concerns and aesthetic ideals, Murasaki’s tale came to occupy a central place in Japan’s remarkable history of artistic achievement and is now recognized as a masterpiece of world literature.
The Tale of Genji is presented here in a flowing new translation for contemporary readers, who will discover in its depiction of the culture of the imperial court the rich complexity of human experience that simultaneously resonates with and challenges their own. Washburn sets off interior monologues with italics for fluid reading, embeds some annotations for accessibility and clarity, and renders the poetry into triplets to create prosodic analogues of the original.

The Tale of Genji

Genre Fiction

W.W.Norton&Company

"Washburn's version of Murasaki Shikibu's masterpiece is lucid and engaging, irresistibly drawing the reader further and further into the story and the exquisite world it creates for us of Japan's Heian court. A fresh and invaluable&nbsp;Tale of Genji&nbsp;for those of us reuniting with a familiar friend and those encountering it for the very first time."&nbsp;--Valerie Henitiuk, author of&nbsp;Worlding Sei Shonagon: The Pillow Book in Translation

The Tale of Genji (The Norton Library)

Product Description 
“A fluid, elegant rendition.” ―Washington Post 
This Norton Critical Edition includes:\nDennis Washburn’s acclaimed and unabridged translation of Murasaki Shikibu’s eleventh-century literary masterpiece, widely considered the world’s first novel.\nEditorial matter by Dennis Washburn.\nFourteen background selections―from the eleventh-century The Daughter of Sugawara no Takasue to Virginia Woolf―carefully selected to increase the reader’s understanding and appreciation of this nuanced and vibrant work.\nNine critical essays on The Tale of Genji’s central themes. 
An index of songs and poetry, three chronologies, and a selected bibliography.\nAbout the Series 
Read by more than 12 million students over fifty-five years, Norton Critical Editions set the standard for apparatus that is right for undergraduate readers. The three-part format―annotated text, contexts, and criticism―helps students to better understand, analyze, and appreciate the literature, while opening a wide range of teaching possibilities for instructors. Whether in print or in digital format, Norton Critical Editions provide all the resources students need. 
 About the Author 
Dennis Washburn is the Burlington northern Foundation professor of Asian studies at Dartmouth College. He holds a Ph.D. in Japanese Language and Literature from Yale University and has authored and edited studies on a range of literary and cultural topics. These include: The Dilemma of the Modern in Japanese Fiction; Translating Mount Fuji: Modern Japanese Fiction and the Ethics of Identity; and The Affect of Difference: Representations of Race in East Asian Empire. In addition to his scholarly publications, he has translated several works of Japanese fiction, including Yokomitsu Riichi’s Shanghai, Tsushima Tsushima Tuko’s Laughing Wolf, and Mizukami Tsutomu’s The Temple of the Wild Geese, for which he was awarded the US-Japan Friendship Commission Prize. In 2004 he was awarded the Japan Foreign Minister’s citation for promoting cross-cultural understanding.

The Tale of Genji: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions)

Completed in the early 11th century, The Tale of Genji is considered the supreme masterpiece of Japanese prose literature, and one of the world's earliest novels. A work of great length, it comprises six parts, the first part of which (also called The Tale of Genji) is reprinted here. The exact origins of this remarkable saga of the nobility of Heian Japan remain somewhat obscured by time, although its author, Lady Shikibu Murasaki, presumably derived many of her insights into court life from her years of service with the royal family.The novel centers on the life and loves of the prince known as "the shining Genji." Far more than an exotic romance, however, the tale presents finely drawn characters in realistic situations, set against a richly embroidered tapestry of court life. Moreover, a wistful sense of nostalgia pervades the accounts of courtly intrigues and rivalries, resulting in an exquisitely detailed portrayal of a decaying aristocracy.Vibrant in its poetry and wordplay, subtle in its social and psychological observations, this work ranks in stature and significance with such Western classics as Cervantes' Don Quixote and Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. This inexpensive edition, featuring Arthur Waley's splendid translation of the first of the six-part series, offers readers a memorable taste of one of the world's first and greatest novels.

The Tale of Genji (Modern Library)

Modern Library

The tale of Genji

Contemporary

Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd.

The first translation of the Japanese masterpiece in a generation introduces modern readers to this brilliant account of courtly life in medieval Japan. 25,000 first printing.

VIKING

The description for this book, Murasaki Shikibu: Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs, will be forthcoming.

Murasaki Shikibu: Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs (Princeton Library of Asian Translations, 14)

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Princeton University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shikibu, Murasaki. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Shikibu, Murasaki

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shikibu, Murasaki. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Diary of Lady Murasaki (Penguin Classics)

The Tale of Genji: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

The Tale of Genji (Penguin Classics)

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji (The Norton Library)

The Tale of Genji: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions)

The Tale of Genji (Modern Library)

The tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji

Murasaki Shikibu: Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs (Princeton Library of Asian Translations, 14)