The Tale of Genji, Volume 1

By: Murasaki Shikibu, Dennis Washburn - translator

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

Murasaki Shikibu, born into the middle ranks of the aristocracy during the Heian period (794-1185 CE), wrote The Tale of Genji, widely considered the world's first novel, during the early years of the 11th century. Expansive, compelling, and sophisticated in its representation of ethical concerns and aesthetic ideals, Murasaki's tale came to occupy a central place in Japan's remarkable history of artistic achievement and is now recognized as a masterpiece of world literature.

The Tale of Genji is presented here in a flowing new translation for contemporary listeners, who will discover in its depiction of the culture of the imperial court the rich complexity of human experience that simultaneously resonates with and challenges their own. Washburn embeds annotations for accessibility and clarity and renders the poetry into triplets to create prosodic analogues of the original.

©2015 Dennis Washburn (translation) (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Tales of Genji

Genji is described as perfect, but he is not. Generally, the story is tedious and primarily of historical significance, but it does provide insight into aspects of Japanese culture as to the importance of status and appearance. Beauty and birth are more important than good behavior. If you are discreet and of high status, bad behavior is ignored. Sentimentality is profound (tears flow constantly). Despite this, there are details of geography and seasons that are wonderful. I enjoyed the poetry the most. Occasionally, the author is quite humorous. I plan to trudge through volume two and hope to hear from other listeners.

Such an eloquent rendition!

I loved the translation and the reader was very good in both English and Japanese!!

great inside view of that society and women's roles

the poetry and the male and female roles of that period of Japanese society are very indicative of the present status of Japanese culture .

Fascinating Story

This is the fascinating story of a handsome son of the Japanese emperor falling in love with many beautiful and talented women and treating them with respect but also pushing women into intimacy (really sexually assaulting them) and acting in an arrogant way and cheating on his true love. I thought this would be boring but was surprised at how engaging it was throughout the book.

Artistic? yes, but that’s it

The insight it gives is interesting and let’s you understand what the old Japan government was like, but this felt very much like a bad day time soap opera.