Customer Reviews

The Tale of Genji: A Reader's Guide (Tuttle Classics)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A god-send "map" of sorts through the galaxy of characters and events in Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale of Genji." I only wish Puette had continued with detailed reviews after Chapter 9. Otherwise, an exellent guide to a wonderful, absorbing novel.

This book was writen as a companion to two earlier translations. However it serves well to provide background and chapter summaries for the Royall Tyler translation which has just become available.

There IS "a detailed, modern English edition of The Tale of Genji." Royall Tyler's 2001 translation is heavily annotated and filled with illustrations of the Heian world and its artifacts mentioned throughout the novel. It is FAR superior in its translation as well to Waley's fast and loose 1935 translation and Seidensticker's workmanlike but less inspired 1976 translation. Anyone wanting to read and/or understand Genji should definitely read Tyler's translation.

I can't tell from this page if Dr. Puette has updated his book to include Tyler's translation, if so I'd certainly repurchase it and likely raise my rating to five stars; I only have the original 1983 edition. Still, even in conjunction with Tyler's Genji, Tuttle's book is a fantastic resource for readers, be their intentions academic or otherwise.

The Tale of Genji: A Reader's Guide gives an excellent introduction and chapter by chapter guide to the often overwhelming details of characters and basic plot chronology in The Tale of Genji. The guide is helpful to read BEFORE starting The Tale of Genji and essential to keep within reach while reading the novel itself.

The only downside to this concise volume is that it accentuates the need for a detailed, annotated, modern English edition of The Tale of Genji to better understand the sophisticated, archaic language and ancient Japanese culture it depicts.

Essential Supplement to the Tale of Genji! Provides critical info regarding Japanese culture during the Heian period. Deeply enriches understanding of the novel.