Responses to Tale of Genji

Today, 9/06/08, I read from page 67 to page 80 in Tale of Genji. I know, it doesn't sound like much, but this book is no Harry Potter. That said, I definitely need to kick it into high gear with regards to the reading of this novel. This is the kind of book that requires great focus read. You have to really get into the words on the page to truly read the book. Today I accomplished that, to some extent, and I will try to have the book finished by next week.

I stated before that Tale of Genji, prototype novel that it is, doesn't have a plot, per say. It's more of an account of the life of a prince in 1000 AD Japan. It doesn't follow the normal story arc of many books. The chapters thus far have been fairly formulaic. Genji meets girl, girl is inaccessible because she is either already engaged with someone or part of a lower station in society, Genji and girl begin secret relationship, and then...they just sort of drift apart. This novel definitely mirrors real life, as opposed to, say, a Harry Potter or a Da Vinci Code. There is no great finale that Genji is heading for; he merely lives his life. Events and people come in...events and people slowly exit out.

In the latest chapter Genji had a chance encounter with a woman whilst visiting his childhood nanny. He and the woman, who is called Yugao, begin a fling, and eventually, Genji, who is hopelessly infatuated, brings her to a more or less abandoned palace for the night. While there, Genji encounters the ephemeral spirit of an older woman hovering above Yugao's sleeping form. And then, Yugao draws her last breath and dies. (I believe this event was referred to in Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, as an ancient example of synchronicity, although Murakami may have infused his own, psychological interpretation into the description of the event.) The spirit appears to belong to that of Genji's long-neglected wife back at the palace, whom he was betrothed to but felt no real passion for. This would be the first supernatural occurrence in the book thus far.

Upon the strange death of his love, Genji became sick for many days. He reemerged 49 days later, a changed man. The book makes a note that 49 days after someone dies, their spirit is reincarnated, and Genji goes to what I believe is a Buddhist monastery (although the translator of this book changes all Japanese affiliations to Christian. Hence, the priest reads "scriptures" and prays to "the Lord." Then again, at other times, they pray to Buddha, which, while more correct, is still wrong – Buddha, when he was alive, made a point of saying he was not a god.). Here they conduct a ceremony for the spirit of Yugao. Because they're nearby, Genji drops by on another one of his romantic flings, the stern and unyielding Utsusemi (trans: 'cicada'). She, too, became entangled in the life of Genji, and, although he relentlessly courted her with letters and visits, she would not risk her position as wife of another lord and give in to Genji's cries. Well, now she and her husband are returning to their homeland, which is far from Genji's, and she and him part, this time in finality. This is uncharacteristic of most love stories. Usually the guy gets the girl in the end, but this time, even after pages worth of building tension, Utsusemi anti-climatically drifts out of Genji's life forever and is never heard from again.

This heart-break filled chapter ends, first, with this bit of poetic goodness:

Now like a traveller who has tried two ways in vain
I stand perplexed where these two sad seasons meet.

and then with an unintentionally humorous note from the author, who apologetically states that she cannot "recount in all their detail matters which [Genji] took so much trouble to conceal...because he was supposed to be an Emperor's son, I must needs put a favorable showing on the his conduct by leaving out all his indiscretions; and you would soon be saying that this was was no history but a mere made-up tale designed to influence the judgement of posterity."

Bizarre.