The Tale Of Genji Shikibu Murasaki Lady Murasaki Shikibu Edward G Seidensticker Translation by Shikibu Murasaki [lady Murasaki Shikibu], Edward G. Seidensticker (translation) 9780307833525, 0307833526 instant download after payment.

In the eleventh century Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Heian court of Japan, wrote the world's first novel. But The Tale of Genji is no mere artifact. It is, rather, a lively & astonishingly nuanced portrait of a refined society where every dalliance is an act of political consequence, a play of characters whose inner lives are as rich & changeable as those imagined by Proust. Chief of these is "the shining Genji," the son of the emperor & a man whose passionate impulses create great turmoil in his world & very nearly destroy him. 

This edition, recognized as the finest version in English, contains a dozen chapters from early in the book, carefully chosen by the translator, Edward G. Seidensticker, with an introduction explaining the selection. It is illustrated throughout with woodcuts from a seventeenth-century edition.

Lady Murasaki Shikibu, born in the year 978, was a member of the famed Fujiwara clan--one of the most influential families of the Heian period. Her literary ability quickly won her a place in the entourage of the Empress Akiko. After the death of her husband, Murasaki Shikibu immersed herself in Buddhism, & the religion's influences permeate her writing.