Envisioning the Tale of Genji: Media, Gender, and Cultural Production

Edited by Haruo Shirane

Paper, 416 pages, 80 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14237-3
$32.50 / £19.00

June, 2008
Cloth, 416 pages, 80 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14236-6
$84.50 / £49.50

"This interesting book offers the most comprehensive history of the reception of the "Genji"" — Japan Times

"Crossing the premodern-modern divide, this collaborative work provides a comprehensive history of the reception, interpretation, and adaptation of the Genji. Particularly laudable is the book's attention to visual transfigurations of the text. It leaves one amazed by the phenomenon that is the Genji across time." — Sonja Arntzen, University of Toronto

"The Tale of Genji generated not only ongoing interest among readers but also new ideas and materials, often involving different media for at least 800 years. This fine collection of essays by American and Japanese scholars gives us a complete picture of just how fecund the Genji has been. It is must-reading for scholars of Japanese literature and makes an invaluable secondary text for anyone who wants to convey the enormous procreative power of the most canonical and popular of all Japanese literary texts." — Steven Carter, Stanford University

Related Subjects

• Asian Literature

About the Author

Haruo Shirane is Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University. He is the author and editor of numerous books on Japanese literature, including Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600; Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900; and Classical Japanese: A Grammar.

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