The Tale of Genji - (Vintage International) Abridged by Murasaki Shikibu (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The abridged edition of the universally acknowledged masterpiece concerning the love of Prince Genji and life in the imperial court of Kyoto in the eleventh century. Translated by Edward Seidensticker.

From the Back Cover

This is a lively and 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 as those imagined by Proust.

Review Quotes

"Not only the world's first real novel, but one of its greatest."

-- Donald Keene, Columbia University"A. triumph of authenticity and readability."

-- Washington Post Book World

"[Seidensticker's] translation has the ring of authority."

-- The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Heian court of Japan, is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji-written in the eleventh century and universally recognized as the greatest masterpiece of Japanese prose narrative and possibly the earliest true novel in the history of the world.