01 Oct / The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Royall Tyler [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America]
Perhaps the biggest news in translated Asian titles is the rebirth of the world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, by Lady Murasaki Shikibu, translated for the third time into English, this time in scrupulous detail by American Aussie Royall Tyler who is currently teaching at Harvard.
While Edward Seidensticker’s Genji was considered by academicians as the authoritative English version, the Tyler translation may very well usurp that position. Regardless of which version you pick up (Arthur Waley’s is the most abbreviated – not to mention the least accurate), Genji should be on every reader’s bookshelf.
Review: “Works in Translation,” aMagazine: Inside Asian America, October/November 2001
Readers: Adult
Published: 2001 (third English translation)