The book overflows with rich descriptions of customs, scenery, rituals and nature that evoke a lost world and often rise to the level of art. Dalby, who has written two books of nonfiction, "Kimono" and "Geisha," which recount her experiences as the only Western woman to become a geisha, sets herself a daunting task here: to tell Murasaki's own story through a work of "literary archaeology" that incorporates not only a fragment of the ancient author's actual journal but also hundreds of her "waka," the short, haikulike message poems that seemed to flow as freely as e-mail among those in Murasaki's circle.Īs a work of literary archaeology or, more fittingly, anthropology, "The Tale of Murasaki" is a stunning success. Liza Dalby's "The Tale of Murasaki" imagines the life of Genji's creator, Murasaki Shikibu, in a fictional memoir that takes the form of a poetic diary. "The Tale of Genji," the 11th century Japanese literary work considered by many to be the world's first novel, boasts an irresistible hero: a sweet-smelling, sensitive Shining Prince who woos and wins every lady he meets.
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