EALC 275: Masterpieces of East Asian Literature Lecture #11: The Tale of Genji 2 Sept.30, 2013Chapter 4: Young Murasaki, 1 • Genji seeks a cure for an illness from an ancient monk at a distant temple • The idea that malignant spirits caused illness and that illness can be cured by the rites performed by holy men and monksChapter 4: Young Murasaki, 2 • Genji “peered” through a brushwood fence to spy on an elderly Nun and a young 10-year old girl under her care, Murasaki. • Genji suddenly notices a resemblance between Young Murasaki and the Fujitsubo Lady with whom he is secretly in love. • Motif of resemblance, doubles, surrogatesChapter 4: Who is Murasaki? 1 • Murasaki’s grandfather was the late inspector-major counselor. • His daughter was brought up to be an imperial concubine. She died early, though, and had a daughter herself who was Murasaki. • Murasaki’s father, Prince Hyobukyo, wants to bring her home, but his wife was cruel to Murasaki. Therefore Murasaki is raised by the elderly nun. • Genji tries to persuade the Bishop and the Nun to allow him to adopt Murasaki instead of her father.Chapter 4: Who is Murasaki? 2 • Poetry as entreaty/ Poetry as bargaining: Nun’s tanka poem on Murasaki (p.88): • It is hard for the dew • To pass from existence, • Leaving the young herb • To meet an unknown future • When it grows to maturity. • Who is the dew? Who is the young herb?Chapter 4: Who is Murasaki? 3 • Poetry as entreaty/ Poetry as bargaining: Genji’s tanka poem on Murasaki (p.91): • Ever since that glimpse • Of the young leaf on the herb • So newly sprouted, • Never has it been free of dew– • The sleeve of the travel robe. • Who is the young herb? Whose is the travel robe?Chapter 4: Who is Murasaki? 4 • Bishop asks Genji to wait “four or five years” • But the Nun gradually grows ills and then dies. • As the Fujitsubo Lady becomes increasingly inacessable to Genji, his obsession with Murasaki intensifies. Doubles or surrogates. • Two women linked by the color purple • Genji kidnaps Murasaki and her nurse before her father can retrieve her.Murasaki’s name: gromwell flowerChapter 5: A Celebration Amid Autumn Leaves, 1 • Celebration of the Emperor’s longevity: • --Genji’s dancing of the “Waves of the Blue Sea” • --Response of Kokiden Lady: “His is the kind of face a heavenly spirit might take a notion to carry off. I call it creepy.” (p.113) • --Response of Fujitsubo Lady: “She might have enjoyed his dancing more if her mind had not been tormented by the heinous impropriety of their relationship, which seemed more dream than reality.” (p.114) • Single event viewed from multiple perspectivesChapter 5: A Celebration Amid Autumn Leaves, 2 • Genji’s wife, Aoi, learns about Murasaki’s abduction: • --Aoi’s silent mistrust of Genji • --Genji’s respect but distance from Aoi • --Difference in the couple’s outlook on marriage: “As the cosseted only daughter of the nation’s preeminent minister, her mother an imperial princess, she possessed unparalleled appreciation of her own importance and reacted with shocked indignation to any lapse on Genji’s part, whereas he considered her unreasonably proud and tried to mold her into conformity with his notion of what a wife should be.” (p.118) • Single event viewed from multiple perspectivesChapter 5: A Celebration Amid Autumn Leaves, 3 • Genji attends to Murasaki’s education: • --Murasaki is still an innocent young girl (the “young herb”) • --She also displays a remarkable intelligence • --Murasaki dresses up a doll as Genji and sends him off to court (p.118) • -- Murasaki’s Nurse reflects on the young girl’s good fortune at having been taken in by Genji (p.117).Murasaki’s education by GenjiChapter 5: A Celebration Amid Autumn Leaves, 4 • Fujitsubo Lady suddenly found pregnant: • --Uncanny resemblance of her son to Genji. • --The Emperor suspects nothing. • --Genji is promoted and Fujitsubo Lady is made empress, which brings her over her rival, the Kokiden Lady • -- Good news? • -- Both Genji and Fujitsubo Lady worry and suffer, it becomes almost impossible for them to meet (p.120)Chapter 5: A Celebration Amid Autumn Leaves, 5 • Trouble Ahead?: • --Genji vows to be true to Murasaki forever once she grows up (p.122). • --The Emperor scolds Genji for neglecting his main wife, Aoi (p.123). • Comic Relief: • Genji is pursued by an older lady-in-waiting named Naishi-no-suke. • To-no-chujo, Genji’s friend, surprises the two together in her bedroom. • Genji runs off embarassed, leaving half his clothes behind.Chapter 6: Aoi, 1 • The retired emperor becomes aware of Genji’s affair with the Rokujo Lady and reprimands him. • “Never embarrass a woman. Whoever she may be, keep things friendly so she won’t begin to hate you.” (p.132)Chapter 6: Aoi, 2 • Genji’s wife, Aoi, becomes pregnant. • This occurs at the same time as one of the emperor’s daughter’s becomes the “Kamo Virgin” at an important Shinto shrine in the capital. • This is a major social event to which only the most important people in aristocratic society are invited. The importance of seeing and being seen by others. • The competition to attend is intense.Chapter 6: Aoi, 3 • The “Carriage Conflict”: • --A key scene that is later reenacted in No drama • --To her utter humiliation, the Rokujo Lady’s carriage is pushed out of the way so that Aoi’s carriage can take its place in viewing the Kamo purification ceremony. Genji ignores her: • Rokujo Lady’s poem (p.134): • It brings home to me • The misery of my plight • As never before– • The coldness of one but glimpsed • By the purifying stream.Heian Era CarriageThe “Carriage Conflict”Chapter 6: Aoi, 4 • Spirit Possession #2: • --The Rokujo Lady’s state of mind is described in great detail • -- “Perhaps it was the constant agonizing—the indecision that made her wonder if her mind might be ‘a float like the ones the fishers cast’– that caused her to feel physically ill and mentally as unstable as the floats in the poem.” (p.138) • Aoi is possessed by a malignant spirit and seems to speak in the voice of the Rokujo Lady in a poem (p.141): • Behind the hem of the robe, • Where it overlaps in front, • Hold fast the spirit • That roams in a daze, driven forth • By