The Tale of Genji

'One of the most extraordinary works of literature I have ever read' Tom Holland (via The Rest is History)

'There are no heroes in the Genji. They are complicated, contradictory, generous, cruel, sad, perverse, and entirely recognizable'
Ian Buruma, from his Introduction to The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji is widely considered the first ever novel. Written by Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu, it tells the story of Genji, the son of an emperor in the Heian court of 10th century Japan. The tale takes us through Genji's childhood and maturity, through to his death and beyond.

It tells of his early sexual escapades, his reckless and often intensely inappropriate relationships with a vast array of women, the court politicking of his middle age and, later on, his grapplings with his own mortality. Above all, Murasaki draws us deep into the human psyche, into themes which transcend the millennium since she wrote it; sexual jealousies, emotional dependencies, the disastrous effects of unbridled desire and, most notably, the realisation of life's extreme transience.

The richness of Murasaki's original story is brought out in this celebrated translation by Arthur Waley, widely considered to be one of the greatest in the English language. By altering elements relating to the Heian court into terms that modern European audiences could understand, Waley takes an already elegiac work of fiction and transforms it into a literary masterpiece.

In this riverrun edition, Ian Buruma has written a new Introduction for Waley's classic translation, as well as three new prefaces for the three sections of the story.