Aesthetics in Tale of Genji

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Colin Rhode Chinese 3801 Qiancheng Li Friday May 2nd, 2014 The Tale of Two Cultures The Tale of Genji, also known as the first psychological novel in the world, is a detailed story about the court life of the upper class of Heian Japan. The story is told by a narrator that seems to have witnessed all of the events that occurred firsthand, or heard about them in great detail from others. This allows for the narrators to shift omnisciently into the minds of characters and share their innermost thoughts. Liya Li sums up the story as such “The tale relates with lyricism and understated drama the amorous impulses and political intrigues of Genji, the gifted and charismatic son of an emperor, and of Genji’s descendants. It also depicts with a considerable degree of realism what life was like for the powerful elites of Heian nobility.” The story touches on themes of love, marriage, sexual politics, death, and more, but also goes further by showing “the influence of Buddhism on Japanese views, thoughts, and expressions of beauty” (Li). Aesthetics at the time of Genji had a completely different meaning then they so in today’s times. The purpose of this paper will be to compare and contrast Heian Japanese aesthetics as revealed in the novel The Tale of Genji with contemporary American perceptions or views of beauty as suggested in the media such as in films, television, magazines, newspapers, and on the internet. To compare and contrast these two things, one must look at the examples of aesthetics in The Tale of Genji. The story itself is written to connect the reader with both details of people and nature. Lauren Prusinski claims that by “seeing the smallest details from Genji’s view, the reader gains a closer perspective of this airy world” and that “these small details are necessary for a true appreciation and sensibility of the subtleties involved in the
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