Celebrating its millennial anniversary in 2008, “The Tale of Genji” (“Genji Monogatari”) is a masterpiece of Japanese literature. Completed in the early 11th century, Murasaki Shikibu’s elegant and enchanting prose spans 54 chapters, features some 400 characters, and contains almost 800 separate poems. Many consider it to be the world’s first novel, predating most European texts by several hundred years.
Murasaki Shikibu transformed her experiences of courtier life into an intricate narrative fusing fiction, history, and poetry. This blending of forms defies simple categorization under any one genre, though the striking interior life of its characters has led many to term it a psychological novel with prose that feels distinctively modern.
