The Tale of Genji and its Legacy

The Tale of Genji (circa 1000 CE), authored by Murasaki Shikibu, a woman of the Heian court, has been canonized over the centuries as the greatest work of Japanese literature. No work in the Japanese tradition has exerted as much literary influence as this mammoth work of prose fiction detailing the private lives of Genji, the brilliant son of the emperor, those with whom he consorts, and his descendents. We will read Genji in its entirety, along with antecedent works, other texts of the period, works influenced by Murasaki's opus, other historical materials, and secondary commentary. There are no prerequisites for this course and it is open to all undergraduates.