The New Lifetime Reading Plan

It is thus perhaps not surprising that Heian literature was created primarily by women. Men were expected to read and write Classical Chinese, the language of learning and religion (as Latin was in medieval Europe), while women usually wrote only in Japanese. Thus it fell to women to write the diaries, poetry, and fiction that laid the foundation for vernacular Japanese literature. In the constellation of Heian writers, Sei Shхnagon shines with particular brilliance.

Serving as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Sadako during the 990S, she was perfectly placed to observe and record events at court, and to comment upon them. The "pillow book" in which she wrote at night probably consisted of loose leaves of paper; much later, the leaves were copied in essentially random order, leading to the topical and chronological disarray of the book as we now have it. The book has no beginning, no end, and no plot; it can be tiring to read straight through, but is endlessly entertaining for browsing. It is famous for its many lists, such as "Things That Give an Unclean Feeling" ("A rat's nest"; "The containers used for oil") or "Rare Things" ("A servant who does not speak badly about his master"), and for Sei Shхnagon^ pro- nouncements on matters of style and etiquette: "Nothing can be worse than allowing the driver of one's ox-carriage to be poorly dressed"; "I cannot stand a woman who wears sleeves of unequal width."

The Pillow-Book owes its enduring fame to the personality of its author, who was refined, demanding, censorious, sophis- ticated, witty, outspoken, and very accomplished. She was an egotist and a snob, admired by some of her contemporaries but probably not much liked. Part of the fascination of reading Sei Shхnagon's book is the realization of how badly one would fare if somehow one were to come under her criticai eye. Her sav- ing grace is that she was as unsparing of herself as she was of others; she had no illusions.

J.S.M.

LADY MURASAKI 28

LADY MURASAKI

ca. 976-1015 The Tale of Genji

Few people would argue with the assertion that The Tale of Genji is Japan's greatest work of literature. Some literary histo- rians describe it as the world's first psychological novel; many critics regard it as one of the half-dozen or so finest novйis in world literature. Like most of the best literature of the Heian period, it was written by an aristocratic lady about whom not very much is known. As with her slightly older contemporary Sei Shхnagon [27], even her real name has disappeared into the darkness of time. She is known to us as Murasaki Shikibu, but that is merely to call her "Lady MurasakT after the name of the principal female character of her novel. She served as a lady-in- waiting to Empress Jхtх-mon-in, and kept a diary while she was at court in the years 1007-1010. (Her diary lacks the scathing honesty of Sei Shхnagon^, but reveals an altogether sweeter and more likable person.)

She was of course of proper aristocratic birth, and seems to have been given by her father an unusually good education even by the fairly liberal standards that prevailed for women at the time. She apparently knew Classical Chinese as well as Japanese, and at court had to take some pains to hide that fact, lest she seem too masculine. From this we can infer an early interest in litera­ture and a talent for language that make the achievement of her great novel seem somewhat more explicable, if no less stunning.

The Tale of Genji depicts the aristocratic life of Heian Japan—the setting is two or three generations before Lady Murasakfs own time—through the life of Prince Genji, every Heian lady's dream of what a courtier should be. He is a mas­ter of every art from painting and calligraphy to incense-blend- ing and origami; he can compose a stylish waka five-line poem as easily as he can breathe. He has an exquisite fashion sense;