The Tale of Genji and its Chinese Precursors

The Tale of Genji and its Chinese Precursors PDF Author: Jindan Ni
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793634424
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 219

Get Book Here

Book Description
In The Tale of Genji and Its Chinese Precursors: Beyond the Boundaries of Nation, Class, and Gender, Jindan Ni departs from a “nativist” tradition which views The Tale of Genji as epitomizing an exclusively Japanese aesthetic distinct from Chinese influence and Buddhist values. Ni contests the traditional focus on Japanese essentialism by detailing the impact of Chinese literary forms and presenting the Japanese Heian Court as a site of dynamic and complex literary interchange. Combining close reading, the archival work of Japanese and Chinese scholars, and comparative literary theory, Ni argues that Murasaki Shikibu avoided the constraint of a single literary tradition by drawing on Chinese intertexts. Ni’s account reveals the heterogeneity that makes The Tale of Genji a masterpiece with enduring appeal.

The Tale of Genji and its Chinese Precursors

The Tale of Genji and its Chinese Precursors PDF Author: Jindan Ni
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793634424
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 219

Get Book Here

Book Description
In The Tale of Genji and Its Chinese Precursors: Beyond the Boundaries of Nation, Class, and Gender, Jindan Ni departs from a “nativist” tradition which views The Tale of Genji as epitomizing an exclusively Japanese aesthetic distinct from Chinese influence and Buddhist values. Ni contests the traditional focus on Japanese essentialism by detailing the impact of Chinese literary forms and presenting the Japanese Heian Court as a site of dynamic and complex literary interchange. Combining close reading, the archival work of Japanese and Chinese scholars, and comparative literary theory, Ni argues that Murasaki Shikibu avoided the constraint of a single literary tradition by drawing on Chinese intertexts. Ni’s account reveals the heterogeneity that makes The Tale of Genji a masterpiece with enduring appeal.

Encountering China’s Past

Encountering China’s Past PDF Author: Lintao Qi
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811906483
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book features articles contributed by leading scholars and scholar-translators in Translation Studies and Chinese Studies from around the world. Written in English, the articles examine the translation of classical Chinese literature, from classics to poetry, from drama to fiction, into a range of Asian and European languages including Japanese, English, French, Czech, and Danish. The collection therefore provides a platform for readers to make comparative and critical readings of scholarship across languages, cultures, disciplines, and genres. With its integration of textual and paratextual materials, this collection of essays is of potential interest to not only academics in the area of Translation Studies, Chinese Studies, Literary Studies and Intercultural Communications, but it may also appeal to communities outside the academia who simply enjoy reading about literature.

Reading The Tale of Genji

Reading The Tale of Genji PDF Author: Thomas Harper
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231537204
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 633

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Tale of Genji, written one thousand years ago, is a masterpiece of Japanese literature, is often regarded as the best prose fiction in the language. Read, commented on, and reimagined by poets, scholars, dramatists, artists, and novelists, the tale has left a legacy as rich and reflective as the work itself. This sourcebook is the most comprehensive record of the reception of The Tale of Genji to date. It presents a range of landmark texts relating to the work during its first millennium, almost all of which are translated into English for the first time. An introduction prefaces each set of documents, situating them within the tradition of Japanese literature and cultural history. These texts provide a fascinating glimpse into Japanese views of literature, poetry, imperial politics, and the place of art and women in society. Selections include an imagined conversation among court ladies gossiping about their favorite characters and scenes in Genji; learned exegetical commentary; a vigorous debate over the morality of Genji; and an impassioned defense of Genji's ability to enhance Japan's standing among the twentieth century's community of nations. Taken together, these documents reflect Japan's fraught history with vernacular texts, particularly those written by women.

Mapping Courtship and Kinship in Classical Japan

Mapping Courtship and Kinship in Classical Japan PDF Author: Doris G. Bargen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 082485733X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Get Book Here

Book Description
Literary critiques of Murasaki Shikibu's eleventh-century The Tale of Genji have often focused on the amorous adventures of its eponymous hero. In this paradigm-shifting analysis of the Genji and other mid-Heian literature, Doris G. Bargen emphasizes the thematic importance of Japan’s complex polygynous kinship system as the domain within which courtship occurs. Heian courtship, conducted mainly to form secondary marriages, was driven by power struggles of succession among lineages that focused on achieving the highest position possible at court. Thus interpreting courtship in light of genealogies is essential for comprehending the politics of interpersonal behavior in many of these texts. Bargen focuses on the genealogical maze—the literal and figurative space through which several generations of men and women in the Genji moved. She demonstrates that courtship politics sought to control kinship by strengthening genealogical lines, while secret affairs and illicit offspring produced genealogical uncertainty that could be dealt with only by reconnecting dissociated lineages or ignoring or even terminating them. The work examines in detail the literary construction of a courtship practice known as kaimami, or “looking through a gap in the fence,” in pre-Genji tales and diaries, and Sei Shōnagon’s famous Pillow Book. In Murasaki Shikibu’s Genji, courtship takes on multigenerational complexity and is often used as a political strategy to vindicate injustices, counteract sexual transgressions, or resist the pressure of imperial succession. Bargen argues persuasively that a woman observed by a man was not wholly deprived of agency: She could choose how much to reveal or conceal as she peeked through shutters, from behind partitions, fans, and kimono sleeves, or through narrow carriage windows. That mid-Heian authors showed courtship in its innumerable forms as being influenced by the spatial considerations of the Heian capital and its environs and by the architectural details of the residences within which aristocratic women were sequestered adds a fascinating topographical dimension to courtship. In Mapping Courtship and Kinship in Classical Japan readers both familiar with and new to The Tale of Genji and its predecessors will be introduced to a wholly new interpretive lens through which to view these classic texts. In addition, the book includes charts that trace Genji characters’ lineages, maps and diagrams that plot the movements of courtiers as they make their way through the capital and beyond, and color reproductions of paintings that capture the drama of courtship.

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji PDF Author: John T. Carpenter
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588396657
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 371

Get Book Here

Book Description
With its vivid descriptions of courtly society, gardens, and architecture in early eleventh-century Japan, The Tale of Genji—recognized as the world’s first novel—has captivated audiences around the globe and inspired artistic traditions for one thousand years. Its female author, Murasaki Shikibu, was a diarist, a renowned poet, and, as a tutor to the young empress, the ultimate palace insider; her monumental work of fiction offers entry into an elaborate, mysterious world of court romance, political intrigue, elite customs, and religious life. This handsomely designed and illustrated book explores the outstanding art associated with Genji through in-depth essays and discussions of more than one hundred works. The Tale of Genji has influenced all forms of Japanese artistic expression, from intimately scaled albums to boldly designed hanging scrolls and screen paintings, lacquer boxes, incense burners, games, palanquins for transporting young brides to their new homes, and even contemporary manga. The authors, both art historians and Genji scholars, discuss the tale’s transmission and reception over the centuries; illuminate its place within the history of Japanese literature and calligraphy; highlight its key episodes and characters; and explore its wide-ranging influence on Japanese culture, design, and aesthetics into the modern era. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana}

Reading the Tale of Genji

Reading the Tale of Genji PDF Author: Richard Stanley-Baker
Publisher: Global Oriental
ISBN: 9004212973
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 243

Get Book Here

Book Description
Six essays by international scholars addressing the Tale of Genji scrolls and the Tale of Genji texts in the context of new critical theory relating to cultural studies, narrative painting, comparative literature and a global view of medieval romance. It links new critical theory with multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary interests.

Western Literature in China and the Translation of a Nation

Western Literature in China and the Translation of a Nation PDF Author: S. Qi
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137011947
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 358

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book studies the reception history of Western literature in China from the 1840s to the present. Qi explores the socio-historical contexts and the contours of how Western literature was introduced, mostly through translation and assesses its transformative impact in the cultural, literary as well as sociopolitical life of modern China.

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji PDF Author: Mitsuoki Tosa
Publisher: George Braziller
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
"The Tale of Genji has provided endless inspiration for Japanese painters throughout the centuries. Widely held to be the first novel ever written, its story of the amorous adventures of the "shining prince" Genji and of the elaborate and highly ordered court culture of the Heian era was written by Murasaki Shikibu shortly after 1000 A.D., during a period of rich cultural flourishing. Presented here is a series of paintings illustrating the tale, bringing to life the events of this classic work." "The fifty-four images - illustrating one chapter each - date from the mid-seventeenth century and were executed by an artist trained in the traditional Tosa school of painting. Surrounded by gilded clouds, these graceful paintings shimmer with uncommon beauty and delicacy. Their small dimensions (they measure just over five inches square) and lyrical colors call to mind the miniature illuminated manuscripts of medieval Europe. Roofs are entirely removed from houses to reveal small, doll-like figures within. Delicate flowers and plants suggest the seasons of the year." "Miyeko Murase's introduction examines the paintings within the context of the history of Genji illustrations, providing insight into the evolution of the techniques and conventions employed by the artist. An overview of the tale that inspired them and of Murasaki Shikibu, its author, is also provided. Commentaries on each of the images describe the scene depicted and summarize, in brief, the key events from the tale."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji PDF Author: Murasaki Shikibu
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book Here

Book Description


Chinese Literary Form in Heian Japan

Chinese Literary Form in Heian Japan PDF Author: Brian Steininger
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684175763
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Written Chinese served as a prestigious, cosmopolitan script across medieval East Asia, from as far west as the Tarim Basin to the eastern kingdom of Heian period Japan (794–1185). In this book, Brian Steininger revisits the mid-Heian court of the Tale of Genji and the Pillow Book, where literary Chinese was not only the basis of official administration, but also a medium for political protest, sermons of mourning, and poems of celebration.Chinese Literary Forms in Heian Japan reconstructs the lived practice of Chinese poetic and prose genres among Heian officials, analyzing the material exchanges by which documents were commissioned, the local reinterpretations of Tang aesthetic principles, and the ritual venues in which literary Chinese texts were performed in Japanese vocalization. Even as state ideology and educational institutions proclaimed the Chinese script’s embodiment of timeless cosmological patterns, everyday practice in this far-flung periphery subjected classical models to a string of improvised exceptions. Through careful comparison of literary and documentary sources, this book provides a vivid case study of one society’s negotiation of literature’s position—both within a hierarchy of authority and between the incommensurable realms of script and speech."