Synopses & Reviews
Written in the eleventh century, this exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the worldandrsquo;s first novelandmdash;and is certainly one of its finest. Genji, the Shining Prince, son of an emperor, is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances, and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic. Royall Tylerandrsquo;s superb translation is detailed, poetic, and true to the Japanese original while allowing the English reader to appreciate its timeless beauty. In this deftly abridged edition, Tyler focuses on the early chapters, which vividly evoke Genji as a young man and leave him at his first moment of triumph.
- The first abridged edition of Tyler's masterful translation
- Includes detailed notes, glossaries, character lists, and chronologies
Review
"An elegant new translation [and] an account of a 12th century civil war that is an important historical document as well as a work of great power and beauty."--
Los Angeles TimesReview
"Encountering Homer in a vivid translation made Keats feel like an astonished astronomer watching a new planet swim into view. Readers unfamiliar with medieval Japanese literature — and that must mean most of us — may feel a kindred excitement on first looking into The Tale of the Heike, in a taut new rendering by Royall Tyler."--The New York Times Book Review
Review
“This modern translation of the Japanese medieval classic tracing the rise and fall of the Taira (Heike) clan reads like the Iliad filtered through Akira Kurosawa, with battlefield panoramas and personal tragedies captured in an exquisitely cinematic narrative…Following his noteworthy translation of The Tale of Genji, Tyler offers accessible language while observing literary tradition in names and format. To help both old hands and newcomers navigate the vibrant yet sometimes arduous masterpiece, he provides an introduction, character list, maps, geneaologies, chronologies, footnotes, and glorious 19th-century illustrations.” --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
and#160; "An elegant new translation [and] an account of a 12th century civil war that is an important historical document as well as a work of great power and beauty."--
Los Angeles TimesSynopsis
The Tale of the Heike is Japan's great martial epic: a masterpiece of world literature and the progenitor of all samurai stories. This major and groundbreaking new Penguin translation is by Royall Tyler, acclaimed translator of The Tale of Genji.
First assembled from scattered oral poems in the early fourteenth century, The Tale of the Heike is Japan's Iliad - a grand-scale depiction of the wars between the Heike and Genji clans. Legendary for its magnificent and vivid set battle scenes, it is also a work filled with intimate human dramas and emotions, contemplating Buddhist themes of suffering and separation, as well as universal insights into love, loss and loyalty. The narrative moves back and forth between the two great warring clans, between aristocratic society and street life, adults and children, great crowds and introspection. No Japanese work has had a greater impact on subsequent literature, theatre, music and films, or on Japan's sense of its own past.
Royall Tyler's new translation is the first to capture the way The Tale of the Heike was originally performed. It re-creates the work in its full operatic form, with speech, poetry, blank verse and song that convey its character as an oral epic in a way not seen before, fully embracing the rich and vigorous language of the original texts. Beautifully illustrated with fifty-five woodcuts from the nineteenth-century artistic master, Katsushika Hokusai, and bolstered with maps, character guides, genealogies and rich annotation, this is a landmark edition.
Royall Tyler taught Japanese language and literature for many years at the Australian National University. He has a B.A. from Harvard University and a PhD from Columbia University and has taught at Harvard, Stanford and the University of Wisconsin. His translation of The Tale of Genji was acclaimed by publications such as The New York Times Book Review.
Synopsis
From the acclaimed translator of The Tale of Genji, a groundbreaking rendering of Japans great martial epic The fourteenth-century Tale of the Heike is Japans Iliada moving depiction of the late twelfth-century wars between the Heike and Genji clans. No work has had a greater impact on later Japanese literature, theater, music, film, and mangaindeed on the Japanese peoples sense of their own past. It has also been a major source for medieval-Japan-based fantasy in English. With woodcuts by nineteenth-century artist Teisai Hokuba, a major student of the great Hokusai, Royall Tylers stunning presentation of this touchstone of Japanese culture recreates the oral epic as it was actually performed and conveys the rich and vigorous language of the original.
Synopsis
From the acclaimed translator of The Tale of Genji, a groundbreaking rendering of Japanand#8217;s great martial epic The fourteenth-century Tale of the Heike is Japanand#8217;s Iliadand#151;a moving depiction of the late twelfth-century wars between the Heike and Genji clans. No work has had a greater impact on later Japanese literature, theater, music, film, and mangaand#151;indeed on the Japanese peopleand#8217;s sense of their own past. It has also been a major source for medieval-Japan-based fantasy in English. With woodcuts by nineteenth-century artist Teisai Hokuba, a major student of the great Hokusai, Royall Tylerand#8217;s stunning presentation of this touchstone of Japanese culture recreates the oral epic as it was actually performed and conveys the rich and vigorous language of the original.
About the Author
Royall Tyler was born in London, England, and grew up in Massachusetts, England, Washington D.C., and Paris. He has a B.A. in Far Eastern Languages from Harvard, and an M.A. in Japanese History and Ph. D. in Japanese literature from Columbia University. He has taught Japanese language and culture at, among other places, Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Oslo, in Norway. Beginning in 1990, he taught at the Australian National University, in Canberra, from which he retired at the end of 2000. He will spend the American academic year 2001-02 as a Visiting Professor at Harvard.
Royall Tyler and his wife Susan live in a rammed earth house on 100 acres in the bush about seventy miles from Canberra, where they breed alpacas as a hobby.
Royall Tyler’s previous works include Japanese Noh Dramas, a selection and translation of Noh plays published by Penguin; Japanese Tales and French Folktales, anthologies published by Pantheon; and The Miracles of the Kasuga Deity, a study of a medieval Japanese cult published by Columbia University Press.
Table of Contents
Translated by Royall Tyler Acknowledgments
List of Maps and Diagrams
Introduction
1. The Paulownia Pavilion (Kiritsubo)
2. The Broom Tree (Hahakigi)
3. The Cicada Shell (Utsusemi)
4. The Twilight Beauty (Yugao)
5. Young Murasaki (Wakamurasaki)
6. The Safflower (Suetsumuhana)
7. Beneath the Autumn Leaves (Momiji no Ga)
8. Under the Cherry Blossoms (Hana no En)
9. Heart-to-Heart (Aoi)
10. The Green Branch (Sakaki)
11. Falling Flowers (Hanachirusato)
12. Suma (Suma)
13. Akashi (Akashi)
14. The Pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi (Miotsukushi)
15. A Waste of Weeds (Yomogiu)
16. At the Pass (Sekiya)
17. The Picture Contest (Eawase)
18. Wind in the Pines (Matsukaze)
19. Wisps of Cloud (Usugumo)
20. The Bluebell (Asagao)
21. The Maidens (Otome)
22. The Tendril Wreath (Tamakazura)
23. The Warbler's First Song (Hatsune)
24. Butterflies (Kocho)
25. The Fireflies (Hotaru)
26. The Pink (Tokonatsu)
27. The Cressets (Kagaribi)
28. The Typhoon (Nowaki)
29. The Imperial Progress (Miyuki)
30. Thoroughwort Flowers (Fujibakama)
31. The Handsome Pillar (Makibashira)
32. The Plum Tree Branch (Umegae)
33. New Wisteria Leaves (Fuji no Uraba)
34. Spring Shoots I (Wakana 1)
35. Spring Shoots II (Wakana 2)
36. The Oak Tree (Kashiwagi)
37. The Flute (Yokobue)
38. The Bell Cricket (Suzumushi)
39. Evening Mist (Yugiri)
40. The Law (Minori)
41. The Seer (Maboroshi)
Vanished into the Clouds (Kumogakure)
42. The Perfumed Prince (Niou Miya)
43. Red Plum Blossoms (Kobai)
44. Bamboo River (Takekawa)
45. The Maiden of the Bridge (Hashihime)
46. Beneath the Oak (Shiigamoto)
47. Trefoil Knots (Agemaki)
48. Bracken Shoots (Sawarabi)
49. The Ivy (Yadorigi)
50. The Eastern Cottage (Azumaya)
51. A Drifting Boat (Ukifune)
52. The Mayfly (Kagero)
53. Writing Practice (Tenarai)
54. The Floating Bridge of Dreams (Yume no Ukihashi)
Chronology
General Glossary
Clothing and Color
Offices and Titles
Summary of Poetic Allusions Identified in the Notes
Characters in The Tale of Genji
Further Reading