Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji: The Manga Edition

By Lady Murasaki Shikibu, Sean Michael Wilson and Inko Ai Takita

Classics, Comics, and Manga: An Interview with Sean Michael Wilson

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Release date: Apr 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781462922840

Lady Murasaki Shikibu

Lady Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 - c. 1014 or 1925) was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting. Born in in Heian-kyō, Japan, Shikibu was a part of the Fujiwara clan. While Heian women were traditionally excluded from learning Chinese, Shikibu was able to become proficient in classical Chinese by listening in on her brother’s lessons. With his further assistance, she was also instructed in traditional subjects such as music, calligraphy and Japanese poetry. At the age of twenty-five, Shikibu entered into marriage with a friend of her father’s, Fujiwara no Nobutaka, and it was because of this marriage that Shikibu was allowed ample leisure time to read and eventually, write. Shikibu would produce at least three books: a diary (The Diary of Lady Murasaki), a volume of poetry (Poetic Memoirs), and the groundbreaking novel, The Tale of Genji.

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Reviews for Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji

[villemezbrown · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Literature's original fuckboy gets to bring his bed-hopping and human-trafficking lifestyle to the graphic novel format.I bought the original book for a college course back in the 1980s, but I never read it through, just flipping through it for the parts I needed for class. It seemed dull. This adaptation cements that impression.But I don't think I was aware what a creep Genji is, kidnapping and adopting young girls and grooming them to become sexual partners on top of his general infidelity. This is a boring day-to-day soap opera of way too many characters crushing on and sexually harassing or raping others. The art is okay, but sometimes it was hard to distinguish between the many too-similar characters. Too often I'd think, which mopey, horny guy in a robes and a hat is this one again?