The Tale of Genji
By
Lady Murasaki
Translated by Arthur Waley
Arthur Waley, brilliant scholar and translator, perhaps the best authority on the literature of the Orient, classes this book as ‘by far the greatest novel of the East,’ and states that ‘even if compared with the fiction of Europe, “The Tale of Genji” takes its place as one of the dozen greatest masterpieces of the world.’ Not only is it among the first novels in excellence, but in antiquity as well, for it was written about the year 1000.
Readers of the ‘Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan’ have already met the Lady Murasaki and have read in Amy Lowell’s introduction to that book what is known of this remarkable woman.
Genji, the young prince whose exploits are chronicled in the present volume, is not a mere courtly warrior but a living young man. The story of his amorous adventures is told in a surprisingly modern manner. Both as a splendidly alive and absorbing story and as an unequaled picture of court life in mediæval Japan, this great novel will be keenly enjoyed by many generations of American readers.
