The Tale of Genji and its Chinese Precursors

In this refreshingly novel approach to The Tale of Genji, Jindan Ni provides a much-needed contemporary re-reading of an age-old classic that has made its way into the canon of world literature. Capitalizing on recent advances in literary scholarship, Ni deploys with consummate skill the lenses of feminism, reception, and global literary studies to unravel new layers of meaning in the novel. She argues cogently for the presence of a 'feminine voice' that addresses the predicament of female characters, and for Murasaki Shikibu's assertive reuse of influential Chinese literary antecedents of her time.--Chan Tak-hung Leo, Lingnan University The Tale of Genji and Its Chinese Precursors offers a fresh and remarkable perspective on Murasaki Shikibu's masterpiece. Previous scholars have signaled the importance of Chinese literature at the Heian court and tracked literary sources and citations. Jindan Ni takes the next literary step, skillfully revealing a continuous dialogue between Chinese and Japanese literatures unfolding in multiple registers in The Tale of Genji, but her master stroke lies in tracing the resonance between this literary dialogism and interactions between women in the novel. The result is an enlarged field of influence, an ongoing process of mutual alteration. This makes The Tale of Genji a work of world literature. Its heroines become harbingers of another possible world of gender.--Thomas Lamarre, University of Chicago