Reader discussion: The tale of Genji

Public reader discussion about The tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu.

Four months to read The Tale of Genji?

By cosmicChair98

Hi! Hope it’s okay to ask here. Lately I’ve been trying to read classic stuff in small chunks alongside whatever I’m normally reading, so I can go slower with the classics without giving up my usual pace. I kicked it off with *David Copperfield*, since it was originally published in monthly pieces—so I’m reading one installment a week instead. I’m planning to finish in mid-December. For next year I really want to get more into non-Western classics, especially Chinese and Japanese. *The Tale of Genji* has been on my list forever, and I found a university breakdown that splits it into 16 sections, with each one somewhere around 40–85 pages. I’d love to do it the same weekly way, but I’m not sure that’s too big for a “side” project. I’m worried *Genji* might be a lot more heavy and it’ll drag longer than I can comfortably fit. I know I should focus on quality over speed, but four months (or more) on just one book also makes me a little bummed, since there are so many other classics I want to get to. I *could* read other classics during my regular slot, but I keep a separate classics slot partly so I don’t rush through them and end up reading everything too quickly. *Copperfield* being 19 weeks isn’t stressing me out too much, mostly because it’ll wrap up around the end of the year and I’m treating it like a practice run. So… does spending about four months on *Genji* sound realistic? Or is that optimistic even if it’s my main book? My *Copperfield* weekly plan is going fine, and I really want to keep doing that for the books that were originally serialized, but I’m wondering if *Genji* might not work as well.

[POEM] by Lady Murasaki Shikibu

By Honest-Key

Those far-off hills in the dewy early morning really set the scene—like the maple leaves are turning scarlet. I just wish I could show you the color of my sleeves, but I’m not sure how to even explain it.

Why does Japanese literature have only 3 genres in English translation?

By teaplain

Dazai/Mishima-ish depressing vibes don’t really do it for me, and I’m also not super into that Murakami style. But I *have* been reading a lot of the cozy coffee shop/bookshop/library + cats type stuff, and honestly it all starts to feel pretty samey after a while. That said, this month I read *Sounds of Waves* and *Kitchen* and I ended up liking them a lot. Even though they’re basically simple romances, they felt really fresh—like some drama/romance but with a happy ending, which is kind of a nice break. Also, I’ve heard there are a ton of better Japanese books that just haven’t been translated into English yet.

Looking for a great novel about Samurai or ancient Japan for my girlfriend - any suggestions?

By envelope_tide

My girlfriend’s gotten really into old Japanese culture/history lately, and I’m trying to find a good novel set in that kind of era that’s still fairly easy to get into. We watched *13 Assassins* the other night and we both liked the whole vibe—more the way people talked and lived, and the atmosphere overall, not just the action. So I’m basically looking for something with similar themes: honor and the whole hierarchy stuff, politics, and how it all shows up in people’s personal lives. If it’s more character-focused, even better. She tends to lose interest if it starts feeling too abstract or more like straight facts. Also, it’d be great if the book isn’t super obscure, since we’d need a German translation.