Envisioning the Tale of Genji

by Shirane, Haruo

• ISBN13: 9780231142373
• ISBN10: 0231142374
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-15
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

Bringing together scholars from across the world, Haruo Shirane presents a fascinating portrait of The Tale of Genji's reception and reproduction over the past thousand years. The essays examine the canonization of the work from the late Heian through the medieval, Edo, Meiji, Taisho, Showa, and Heisei periods, revealing its profound influence on a variety of genres and fields, including modern nation building. They also consider parody, pastiche, and re-creation of the text in various popular and mass media. Since the Genjiwas written by a woman for female readers, contributors also take up the issue of gender and cultural authority, looking at the novel's function as a symbol of Heian court culture and as an important tool in women's education. Throughout the volume, scholars discuss achievements in visualization, from screen painting and woodblock prints to mangaand anime. Taking up such recurrent themes as cultural nostalgia, eroticism, and gender, this book is the most comprehensive history of the reception of The Tale of Genjito date, both in the country of its origin and throughout the world.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Note to the Reader	p. xi
The Tale of Genji and the Dynamics of Cultural Production: Canonization and Popularization	p. 1
The Late Heian and Medieval Periods: Court Culture, Gender, and Representation
Figure and Facture in the Genji Scrolls: Text, Calligraphy, Paper, and Painting	p. 49
The Tale of Genji and the Development of Female-Spirit No	p. 81
Monochromatic Genji: The Hakubyo Tradition and Female Commentarial Culture	p. 101
Genre Trouble: Medieval Commentaries and Canonization of The Tale of Genji	p. 129
The Edo Period: Warrior Society, Education, and Popular Culture
Didactic Readings of The Tale of Genji: Politics and Women's Education	p. 157
Genji Pictures from Momoyama Painting to Edo Ukiyo-e: Cultural Authority and New Horizons	p. 171
The Splendor of Hybridity: Image and Text in Ryutei Tanehiko's Inaka Genji	p. 211
The Meiji, Taisho, and Prewar Showa Periods: National Literature, World Literature, and Imperial Japan
The Tale of Genji, National Literature, Language, and Modernism	p. 243
Wartime Japan, the Imperial Line, and The Tale of Genji	p. 288
The Postwar Showa and Heisei Periods: Visuality, Sexuality, and Mass Culture
The Tale of Genji in Postwar Film: Emperor, Aestheticism, and the Erotic	p. 303
Sexuality, Gender, and The Tale of Genji in Modern Japanese Translations and Manga	p. 329
Chapter Titles of The Tale of Genji	p. 359
Selected Bibliography on The Tale of Genji and Its Reception in English	p. 363
Contributors	p. 371
Index	p. 375
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.