How did a super-famous British author read The Tale of Genji? A unique impression of an author
//Summary - Level-C2//
Virginia Woolf, a renowned British author, viewed The Tale of Genji as a product of Japan's peaceful aristocracy, contrasting it with war-torn England. She admired its delicate world, born from political stability under the Fujiwara clan. Despite this elegance, aristocratic culture thrived on exploiting the lower classes, revealing societal inequalities beneath its refined exterior.
A)
1)
This author also read Genji:
The Tale of Genji is the theme of this year's Taiga drama, To You, and has attracted attention from all over Japan.
In fact, this story was first translated into English about 100 years ago by a British orientalist named Arthur Waley. The book, The Tale of Genji, was widely acclaimed in Britain, Europe, and America.
2)
In the 21st century, Marie Mariya and Megumi Moriyama (sisters) have retranslated Waley's translation of The Tale of Genji into Japanese.
Mariya and Moriyama made several discoveries while translating the English translation into Japanese.
3)
"Lady Murasaki's Tea Party: Spiral Translation of The Tale of Genji" summarises these findings and teaches how to read The Tale of Genji from a new perspective.
B)
4)
The book also describes how world-famous literary figures, such as Virginia Woolf, an early 20th-century British writer known for To the Lighthouse, read The Tale of Genji.
She looks at the environment in which The Tale of Genji was written. Here is a quote from the book (some parts have been edited for ease of reading).
C)
5)
Virginia Woolf's review of The Tale of Genji also states: "Lady Murasaki lived in a time of great happiness for artists, especially for women artists. War was not a major issue in life, and politics was not the main focus of men's interests".
6)
She believes that precisely this "freedom from these two forms of violence" made the delicate and elegant world of The Tale of Genji possible. By comparison, England was still in an age of violent war.
D)
7)
However, if we think objectively about how this miracle of the "happy season" came about, it was political.
During the period of regent politics under Fujiwara no Michinaga and Yorimichi from the end of the 10th century to the 11th century, the Fujiwara clan competed for favour by sending their daughters to the imperial court in an attempt to seize power as the emperor's in-laws.
8)
To this end, they gathered talented ladies-in-waiting for each imperial palace and tried to create glamorous 'salons' full of talent.
This was the case with Empress Sadashi's salon, which served Sei Shonagon. It is likely that Empress Shoshi also summoned Murasaki Shikibu, who made her name with The Tale of Genji.
9)
Moreover, the "happy" refined literature and culture belonged only to the aristocracy, and many unknown people were exploited behind it. Sugimoto Sonoko wrote the following about society at that time.
E)
10)
Two hundred years and several decades of peace:
Culture had reached its zenith, and the aristocratic society that enjoyed it was already a consumer class with nothing to do with the land. They received rice tribute from the manors, various goods they confiscated as national taxes, and so on.
11)
However, under the centralised system of the Heian period, all taxes and rice tributes were used to promote the aristocrats' consumer lifestyles.
Their aesthetic lifestyle and prosperity were enjoyed through the tears and sweat of the lower classes, who were constantly robbed.
F)
12)
The struggles and distortions of class society were very different from the history of wars in Europe and England.
This book, which looks at Murasaki Shikibu through Woolf's perspective, shows The Tale of Genji globally.
How did a super-famous British author read The Tale of Genji? A unique impression of an author
https://gendai.media/articles/-/137870
The translator of Waley's "The Tale of Genji" reveals why a thousand-year-old story, "Lady Murasaki's Tea Party," was highly praised worldwide.
https://gendai.media/articles/-/135985?imp=0
Do you know how "Hikaru Genji" from the Tale of Genji is translated into "English"? The "surprising answer."
https://gendai.media/articles/-/136922
