Tale of Genji Flashcards
The Tale of Genji is a product of what kind of tradition?
The increasingly complex kana prose tradition
When was and who did write the Tale of Genji?
Murasaki Shikibu in the first decade of the 11th century, it consists of 54 chapters split in 2 parts
Why is there a question of authorship?
the later section about Genji’s progeny might have been written by someone else
Tale of Genji explores Mono no Aware differently how?
Murasaki doesn’t use Waka she uses Kana, and she uses both poetry and prose to explore the concept
Explain the two sections in Tales of Genji?
chapters 1-41 on Genji (“The Shining One”) and the women in his life, and chapters 42-54 about his progeny.
How did the Tale of Genji start?
with a cluster of tales and later expanded with additions/sequels
In what why was the Tale used as evidence?
Parts of the work was widely circulated in court with evidence of courtly women being obsessed
with the tale
Monogatari
Often translated as “tale(s)” or “narratives”, Became an important way to narrate cultural history
What was one of the reasons why the court began to turn away from using Chinese in their writings and that style?
It was based on the general turning away from Chinese-derived institutions and patterns of behavior that accompanied the cessation of official missions to the continent in the latter part of the 9th century
How does Monogatari and History compliment each other?
Works like Nihon Shoki were only part of the story of the past: the great events and happenings. Bigger picture so to say. The details about how people actually lived, felt, and thought had to be filled in by others in a “plausible” manner.
What are Historical Tales?
rekishi monogatari, a new writing form that developed as Japan’s Coutiers began to distance themselves from Chinese influence and how the couriers wanted to “liven up” their notes and opinions of what’s happening around them. Historical tales are a product of the blurring of history and literature, or fact and fiction
How is the Tale of Genji considered “realist”?
The characters are complex; Genji starts out as the ideal, infallible hero, his flaws do manifest
themselves and prompt his downfall.
What are the tropes in the Tale of Genji and how are they used?
the amorous man, the infallible hero, the insufferable stepmother, the exiled hero, the “hidden beauty” - all of which can be traced back to other Heian fictional works- but all of these tropes are subverted in one way or another
What’s the Tale of Genji’s relation to future Waka works?
It was a manual/sourcebook for waka poetry during the Medieval period
How was the Tale of Genji portrayed during the Edo Period?
Genji is read as didactic work (either Confucian or Buddhist), Motoori Norinaga introduced Genji as a guidebook to mono no aware, and the tale had Parody works such as Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji
