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Session 08: Premodern prose narratives—Japan: Tale of Genji
Topics for this session
❖ Premodern prose narratives—Japan: Tale of Genji (Murasaki Shikibu, early 11th c.)
Thoughts*
Murasaki's writing situation: Murasaki Shikibu was a mid-level aristocrat who served a lady of the highest social position (first daughter to the most powerful man of the day, to later give birth of the emperor's children). She was highly educated, highly intelligent, a brilliant observer of the social world around her. She is known primarily for this text but also wrote a journal and many poems. She wrote primarily for other women of her day, in a similar position as her. He text was distributed / consumed either by read aloud sessions where a group of women would sit together, or hand-copied and distributed in full or in parts. Later, over the centuries, favorite passages were distilled and presented in illustrated texts, or just shared by word of mouth. In short, this is a text by an aristocratic women meant for other aristocratic women.
The mark of Buddhism, in its general shape, is strongly evident. Murasaki is not promoting Buddhism, but accepts uncritically its basic views.
The imperially commanded poem anthology Collection of Poems Old and New (Kokin waka shu, 10th c.), considered the gold standard of poetry by the average literate aristocrat, had collected love poems into five subsections that trace out the trajectory of love as, simply put: rumors or brief glimpses of a woman attracts a man who presents himself to the woman through poetry as infatuated, earnest, disoriented, suffering until he can meet with her while the woman resists, the culmination of love which is marked primarily by anxiety that the relationship will not last, concerns that the lover is untrustworthy, fear of the gossip of society, and then, a gradual realization, to the woman, that her man is not longer interested. This basic trajectory was important to The Tale of Genji, although the plot lines are much more complicated than this, and this basic narrative, similar to the Western story of Romeo and Juliet (star-crossed lovers prevented from love by society), remains a powerful influence on romantic narratives.
Irogonomi (literally "love or the sensual" "love of color") usually describes a man, but can describe a woman, who has a high interest in the opposite sex and romantic affairs with them, and is nearly always endowed with these qualities: power, wealth, good looks, education, moderately high social status (those in the very highest circles avoid scandal), an almost unreasonable level of inability to resist the opposite sex, a charming demeanor, excellent fashion sense, and able to write elegant poetry and engage in elegant conversation that is pleasing to the partner. (For the woman these traits are the same, although "the rainy night" discussion of Genji Chapter 2 suggests that a woman of too-high a status or of too much good manner, is objectionable to the man and, further, that a "diamond in the rough" situation is particularly appealing to the man.)
Koi is a common term to describe love as it is presented in The Tale of Genji and is better translated as "longing" than as "love" if "love" is meant to suggest "true love", a notion embedded in Christian values and not found, in my opinion, in premodern East Asian texts.
Amae is a modern, psychoanalytic term that refers to a lover's behavior that is meant to express dependency or actually be dependent, evoking from the lover a desire to care for that person. It is considered an attractive and charming characteristic, at least up to a degree that that a Western 21st-century young American might find excessive. Amae, in my opinion, is blending with the Confucian value of xiao, but is not derivative of it.
Required—to be completed for today's session
✓ You are to have completed a careful reading of The Tale of Genji, following the instructions of bSpace as to what portions to read and where to place your emphasis. It is important to read the entire assignment since we look at narrative development (outcomes of choices, etc.) and expressive styles (that only can be captured by seeing the work as a whole, or at least large segments of it). As stated elsewhere, reading summaries of the work does not provide the necessary perspective.
Links
This links to others pages on this Web site, when I have been developing a commentary on The Tale of Genji. Many of the chapters assigned for this class are summarized there. See: Wallace Reading Notes Chapter List.
*UNDER CONSTRUCTION: If this has not been erased it means something on this page is incomplete. Perhaps I want to recheck information or perhaps I haven't converted the page from the version of the previous class. It is available but should be taken dubiously.
*THOUGHTS: My hope is that you look at this portion BEFORE a session. If there is content here it might help you focus on the main points of the day. However, I add various things here at various times. When I feel I haven't succeeded in class stating something clearly, I might restate it here. Of if it is a difficult concept in might be given in written form here. I will assume that you have read and rechecked for changes this session in preparation for any midterm or other quiz or test.