The Tale of Genji, Volume 2 cover art

The Tale of Genji, Volume 2

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The Tale of Genji, Volume 2

By: Murasaki Shikibu, Dennis Washburn - translator
Narrated by: Brian Nishii
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About this listen

Murasaki Shikibu, born into the middle ranks of the aristocracy during the Heian period (794-1185 CE), wrote The Tale of Genji - widely considered the world’s first novel - during the early years of the 11th century. Expansive, compelling, and sophisticated in its representation of ethical concerns and aesthetic ideals, Murasaki’s tale came to occupy a central place in Japan’s remarkable history of artistic achievement and is now recognized as a masterpiece of world literature.

The Tale of Genji is presented here in a flowing new translation for contemporary listeners, who will discover in its depiction of the culture of the imperial court the rich complexity of human experience that simultaneously resonates with and challenges their own. Dennis Washburn embeds annotations for accessibility and clarity and renders the poetry into triplets to create prosodic analogues of the original.

©2015 Dennis Washburn (translation) (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing Classics China

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It takes patience and commitment to get through the whole of The Tale of Genji. This audiobook version was a great help. Good performance and good pronunciation of the Japanese names and other Japanese words retained in the English version. If you want to read the whole of Genji, I highly recommend both Vol 1 and Vol 2 of this audiobook.

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