Understanding Genji

5 comments

1. I read the paperback translated copy from Penguin Random House Classics; it has extensive footnotes and indices. It’s also available on Kindle but it’s a thick volume you may find easier to flip back and forth at times.

2. While I read a different translation, I would recommend the Royall Tyler one. It has plenty of detailed Footnotes/annotations so you don’t have to worry about just jumping into it without prior readings. Also, out of all the major translations of Genji, I believe this one is the most well regarded and well rounded.

   You can also check out the “The World of the shining prince” by Ivan Morris which is a deep dive into that period. Though, if you care about spoilers in regards to the classics, this may “spoil” things if you read it first.

3. So you want to dash in only when you can live or confirm a kill, and play for nano

4. I’ve been crawling my way through Seidensticker and, with the exception of it being very *long*, it’s otherwise an immensely approachable text. At the very least, it’s internally consistent and understandable without needing any sort of outside knowledge about Heian-era Japan or Genji itself.

   I know lots of people criticise Seidensticker for being thorough at the expense of being poetical; sort of makes me wonder to what extent different approaches to the translation affect the actual accessibility of the story, if other translations that preserve the language are consequently more difficult to understand…?

5. If you read Japanese, I recommend [this book](https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8D%E3%80%81%E3%82%93-%E2%80%95%E5%A4%A7%E6%8E%B4%E6%BA%90%E6%B0%8F%E7%89%A9%E8%AA%9E-%E5%B0%8F%E6%B3%89-%E5%90%89%E5%AE%8F/dp/4344001494?ref_=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=6203c356-8d83-46ed-9a19-78c297bc9d93) which distills Genji into a comic that you can get through in a day. Royall Tyler taught my college class on Genji and recommended it as a companion to his translation (which is more readable than Seidensticker IMO).