*Please, press play on the track above to enjoy the music believed to be enjoyed during this time period. 

The Tale of Genji: Murasaki Shikibu

This is considered by a majority of people to be both the first novel and modern novel (it is also the first novel to include metafictional elements). It is a novel because of its length, the recurring themes, how each installment builds off of each other, and, ultimately, how it weaved many stories together. What makes it a modern novel, though, is its protagonist, Genji, seemingly unique position in society and its comments on said society.

To begin with, what primarily made The Tale of Genji a novel, compared to other prose works near its inception, is that Murasaki made the “story lifelike by making it many stories at once” (Phillips 378). She constructed a narrative that had many moving parts such as Genji’s romantic adventures with a sense of political turmoil happening in the background. Short stories mostly utilized a focused narrative that wanted to convey one specific idea. This novel wanted to explore the feelings of love and lust and the concepts of friendship and family bonds.

In the beginning, Hikaru Genji is born to the Emperor of Japan, Kiritsubo and a low-ranking concubine, Lady Kiritsubo. Because of a number of political reasons that up endangering his life later on, Genji looses his status as a prince and becomes a simple commoner with a new surname, Minamoto. Later on, Genji becomes an officer. This makes Genji an appealing character for readers of any social standing. For the commoner, or the bourgeoisie, Genji’s interactions with royals offers a magical and different experience from their normal life. On the other hand, the higher class can appreciate Genji escapades in trying to find a suitable woman with his friend, Kokimi. This provided them the strange life of the commoner, which is very different from their privileged life.

The rest of Genji’s life is not an ordinary one. He later finds a ten-year-old girl named Murasaki (which is metafictional as she has the same name as the author) and kidnaps her so she could later grow up to be his perfect woman. Genji has a son, Reizei, who is considered by everyone to be the son of the Emperor and the fallen prince chooses to never reveal the truth. Genji loses his wife, Lady Aoi, who bore him a son, and he finds comfort in Murasaki. Eventually, Genji passes away and the rest of the story is about Kaoru, who is thought to be his son but really isn’t.

Overall, Murasaki’s Tale of Genji set the stage for tales about royalty, common folk, and complex narratives.