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rachelmanija Nov. 30th, 2005 10:14 am)
rachelmanija Nov. 30th, 2005 10:14 am)Genji is now a young man a captain of the guard, and he and one of his buddies, To no Chujo, get together at Genji's place. It took me five minutes to figure out that To no Chujo is the brother of the woman Genji is married to, so they are both children of the Minister of the Left, and To no Chujo is married to the daughter of the Minister of the Right. I can tell already that I am going to have trouble keeping everyone's relationships straight.
So To no Chujo sees all these love letters scattered all over the place, and, over Genji's rather wishy-washy protests, starts reading them. This was first of many moments in this chapter that I found hilarious, though I'm not sure that it was supposed to be. More young men show up, and they all start talking about women. One of them goes off on such a long and boring monologue about how every woman has some intolerable flaw-- too dull or too smart, too domestic or too undomestic-- that not only did I almost fall asleep, but Genji actually did so. Then they start telling bizarre stories about women they knew. They all sound like the cast of Seinfeld-- this woman used too many big words, and this woman wrote in Chinese characters, and this woman ate too much garlic, and this woman was too jealous-- and then she suddenly dropped dead, so that was that. (I laughed.) At one point they all look at Genji, who is so perfect and gorgeous that they "almost wished that he was a woman." I expected a gay orgy to break out at any second, since they clearly liked each other a lot more than they liked women, but no.
Later, Genji barges in to a governor's house and invites himself to stay the night. He hears the lovely daughter talking to her brother and praising Genji, but to Genji's disappointment, she doesn't elaborate too much on this theme. (Another moment that cracked me up.) Genji drags off the sister for a liaison of dubious consensuality, in which she confesses that her husband is a dolt and a clown, but she's still married, so no. Which Genji takes as a yes. Yep, he's a skank.
Genji then becomes totally obsessed with the sister and begins stalking her, with her young brother as the intermediary. No, no, no, she writes. It's not that she doesn't like him-- everyone in the whole wide world loves Genji-- but she's married, so there's a question of honor involved. (No one wonders about Genji's honor. Skank.) It looks like Genji is going to have to go home alone, to his sad cold bed empty of all but his wife. But then--
"Well, you at least must not abandon me." Genji pulled the boy down beside him.
The boy was delighted, such were Genji's youthful charms. Genji, for his part, or so one is informed, found the boy more attractive than his chilly sister.
So To no Chujo sees all these love letters scattered all over the place, and, over Genji's rather wishy-washy protests, starts reading them. This was first of many moments in this chapter that I found hilarious, though I'm not sure that it was supposed to be. More young men show up, and they all start talking about women. One of them goes off on such a long and boring monologue about how every woman has some intolerable flaw-- too dull or too smart, too domestic or too undomestic-- that not only did I almost fall asleep, but Genji actually did so. Then they start telling bizarre stories about women they knew. They all sound like the cast of Seinfeld-- this woman used too many big words, and this woman wrote in Chinese characters, and this woman ate too much garlic, and this woman was too jealous-- and then she suddenly dropped dead, so that was that. (I laughed.) At one point they all look at Genji, who is so perfect and gorgeous that they "almost wished that he was a woman." I expected a gay orgy to break out at any second, since they clearly liked each other a lot more than they liked women, but no.
Later, Genji barges in to a governor's house and invites himself to stay the night. He hears the lovely daughter talking to her brother and praising Genji, but to Genji's disappointment, she doesn't elaborate too much on this theme. (Another moment that cracked me up.) Genji drags off the sister for a liaison of dubious consensuality, in which she confesses that her husband is a dolt and a clown, but she's still married, so no. Which Genji takes as a yes. Yep, he's a skank.
Genji then becomes totally obsessed with the sister and begins stalking her, with her young brother as the intermediary. No, no, no, she writes. It's not that she doesn't like him-- everyone in the whole wide world loves Genji-- but she's married, so there's a question of honor involved. (No one wonders about Genji's honor. Skank.) It looks like Genji is going to have to go home alone, to his sad cold bed empty of all but his wife. But then--
"Well, you at least must not abandon me." Genji pulled the boy down beside him.
The boy was delighted, such were Genji's youthful charms. Genji, for his part, or so one is informed, found the boy more attractive than his chilly sister.
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I suspect that may have been the subject of the world's first fan fiction.
Cheers! :)
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Also, both you and Rachel should check out Haruo Shirane's Bridge of Dreams, as well as the Ivan Morris (both of which I think people have mentioned below). Again, I sadly only read a chapter or two of the Shirane, but they were good chapters. I think the Shirane is more litcrit and the Morris is more historical, but I could also be sorely mistaken.
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Genji is such a skank!
I think he's also the world's first Mary Sue too. Or something.
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I think he's also the world's first Mary Sue too.
Especially because he's written by a woman!
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PS - Sei Shonagon was the Dorothy Parker of the Heian court. Discuss.
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Not to tear you away from Lymond, though...
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Hee. Yes. Just wait till they start having kids.
and then she suddenly dropped dead, so that was that
Female characters often do just that, in this book.
Yep, he's a skank.
Ha! I'm adoring your commentary.
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The boy was delighted, such were Genji's youthful charms. Genji, for his part, or so one is informed, found the boy more attractive than his chilly sister.
I totally dropped my jaw when I read this. I actually read those two sentences three times, to make sure I wasn't mistaken.
I thought "How incredibly friendly and matter of fact. Lovely!"
But yeah. Gengi the man whore. OMG.
Relationships were difficult to track, much moreso than the characters in War and Peace, which everyone told me was impossible to keep straight. I had no problems in that, but I did have to keep retracing my steps to make certain I knew who everyone was. But I guess when you're writing the world's first novel, you're allowed a little leeway.
I'm so enjoying your commentary.
And others! Particularly:
I think he's also the world's first Mary Sue too. Or something.
::Snerk:: Absolutely. A concept as old as the novel form itself.
I expected a gay orgy to break out at any second
I suspect that may have been the subject of the world's first fan fiction.
I have this lovely image of another lovely lady, getting out her ink, brushes, and paper, and writing the worlds first slash fanfic.