The Tale of Genji (源氏物語) by Murasaki Shikibu - translated by Royall Tyler

[@9750939]

Your opening teaser was a brilliant way to introduce one of your best video-reviews yet.

[@robotummy]

Thank you for taking the time to look at my little LinkedIn articles, Steven! It was a joy to read your chapter on Genji in An Alternative History. All the best from Toronto!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much, Steve! That means a great deal coming from you. And I second Dylan on my appreciation for what you accomplished in your books on the novel!

[@Bob-kt6bi]

The legend is back, fully refreshed from summer vacation. Hold onto your books folks into going to get wild…

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Hahaha!

[@boogieboots]

Thank you so much Chris for all of your wonderful contributions to the world of literature. Your enthusiasm and insight evokes such joy for me that I always find myself yearning to read more and discover more of this world we share. It is a delight to know there are still so many people who value art and literature and understand the impact it can make in our lives. You’ve put me on to a lot of great books and it’s been such a pleasure to hear your emphatic response to some of my already favourites.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Really appreciate your kind words here! All my best to you! 🙏🙏🙏

[@AndriusSR]

I devoured The Tale of Genji in the summer of my hemisphere (February) and was completely blown away. It was a fantastic Spanish translation by Xavier Roca-Ferrer, full of footnotes that really helped me to understand more about the Heian period and the historical and literary importance of this master piece. Also, it included a complete character index (which I found very useful). The book spent no less than 10 years collecting dust on my shelf until I decided to pick it up. I never imagined what I would find. I loved it. Now it's been 5 months and I still miss it. Meanwhile, I'm going through an obsessive phase of Japanese literature caused by this book. Since I can't forget the Tale, I came across this outstanding review and of course I saw it immediately. Thank you for this, it is a very complete analysis. I really appreciate you sharing your experience and insights with us in detail.

[@joshdot9244]

I never expected you to cover genji! looking forward to the video!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Yay, I love doing the unexpected! Hope you enjoy it!

[@davissandefur5980]

I loved the section on the note taking. I'd love a more in-depth video of how you read deeply/analyze as you're reading!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks! You may be interesting in my video on analyzing "In a Tub" by Amy Hempel.

[@MaximTendu]

Whoa, back with a vengeance! I'm glad you enjoyed this masterpiece. You in America reading Genji and me in Asia reading Moby-Dick. It's a small world, but some of the books in it are quite huge. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival 🥮

[@LeafbyLeaf]

What an interesting and ironic inversion. :)

[@gregorspv]

I was looking for some commentary on Genji and stumbled upon this amazing video. What a great format this is for discussing literature! I especially like how you refer to modern scholarship, and provide a unique bibliography. My first attempt at Genji was in 2016 when I tried to read a Slovenian translation of the Waley translation, for a world literature class taught in Slovenian. I didn't get very far then, but I am determined to try it again in the near future, this time in Tyler's English translation!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks for the positive feedback! A Slovenian translation of the Waley sounds pretty gnarly! 😮

[@Tolstoy111]

In his book The Novel 100, Prof. Dan S. Burt has it as the 10th greatest novel of all time… 1 Don Quixote 2 War and Peace 3 Ulysses 4 In Search of Lost Time 5 The Brothers Karamazov 6 Moby-Dick 7 Madame Bovary 8 Middlemarch 9 The Magic Mountain 10 The Tale of Genji

[@robotummy]

Thank you, Chris, for giving me one of the most engaging and joyful reading experiences of my life (: I’ll never forget this!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

And a huge thanks back to _you_ , Dylan! Looking forward to reuniting for the Eddie G translation!

[@tinkertailor9479]

Absolutely brilliant overview and glad to have you back. You've converted me into making Genji a priority.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much! :)

[@giuseppi6184]

That smirk at the end of the opening remarks was everything!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

My wife calls that my signature smirk!

[@kieran_forster_artist]

Thanks Chris….you are always a joy to listen to, an absolute delight full of insights and pervaded by a sense of hope

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Gosh, Kieran, you've really moved me with such a compliment.

[@kieran_forster_artist]

@@LeafbyLeaf well Chris it’s true…..I suppose I bring a different perspective to booktube and especially those with a great reputation or are thoughtleaders. I personally and professionally appreciate reviews and analysis that don’t assume a nihilistic or profoundly pessimistic underlying aesthetic philosophy. Not that a book can’t be cynical and still interesting. My comment really goes to your sense of enjoying the play of ideas and atmosphere and style, without any overall bias favouring the very real misanthropic darkness our modern society is struggling with. A sense of hope comes through you. I’m just calling it out. Maybe someone can explain it better. Just keep it up, Chris. The world needs it these days. K

[@michaelmasiello6752]

Welcome back! I left a comment bere earlier, but I included a link to an interview with William Vollmann which may have led to it disappearing. In any case, it was Vollmann who inspired me to read The Tale of Genji, and it is indeed one of the great reading experiences one can hope to have in life. In the same interview, Vollmann also sang the praises of Royall Tyler’s translation of Heike monogatari, which he placed in the company of the Iliad. The opening lines of that poem in Tyler’s translation gripped me immediately. I had the feeling you surely know too: that feeling that one has encountered something necessary, something that lays hold of us and demands we pay strictest attention-that it has some particular business with us. This was a wonderful encomium to Lady Murasaki’s monument to mono no aware. Thanks, as always, for what you do.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I love this: "that it has some particular business with us"! I forgot to mention this about WTV in the video, but I, too, noted from that interview included in _Expelled from Eden_ that WTV mentioned his love of _Genji_ and _Heike_ (I happen to have the hardcover of Tyler's translation of the latter).

[@herrdetlef7370]

Watching your videos really crashes my bank account! Just ordered a copy of genjis tales. But looking forward to it. Thank you for that inspiring review.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Sorry! (Kinda.) :)

[@robertocatrone715]

Thank you for your outstanding review and the pre-stage setting to gain understanding.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thank you! My pleasure!

[@markbeck8384]

This is my all time favorite book, and I'm just an ordinary old American guy from Illinois. Loved your review. The poetry, sense of time & place, Nature appreciation, in Genji are remarkable; but most of all: it is a VERY romantic book. Prince Genji, who is much admired, is not quite at the top of Japanese royalty. He is quite the womanizer; but, in the sense of those times, he tries to treat his conquests well. One very young one essentially becomes his favorite, and he raises her to be his ideal Woman. She bears with all his endless amours, but eventually dies. He can not survive her death much longer because he realizes he truly loved her. People who live after him (one his unrecognized son) try to live his same lifestyle; but do not end up matching the "Shining Prince", whose uniqueness is evident as the story closes. It covers a long period of time, and you truly feel you know these people and the time they lived in. I have read the Arthur Waley and the Royal Tyler versions; and I am due to read it again. It definitely will move a certain kind of reader! Yes, I am too an Autumn kind of guy, and this is one of those kind of infinite works of Art that doesn't stale.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

It really is remarkable that Shikibu captured something in that far flung time and place that can resonate with two 21st-century average American fellas like ourselves today! I found the Waley transition at a bookstore in Cincinnati last year and have it tucked away for the right time.

[@storyinternships9636]

Yay! You're back ❤

[@LeafbyLeaf]

:)

[@mickizurcher]

Love this opening! Genji! It’s for me!!! At 75, having read voraciously having a book with me, only to escape in my youth, having no idea about genre, style comparative literature, translations, this is so thrilling to have found you. Where have I been all my life? I would’ve taken English literature had I modicum of self-esteem and self awareness It makes sense now I even at one time I worked in a bookstore and I loved it. I applied for library sciences schooling, but couldn’t afford it. Is there such a thing as people talking about books? This brings me to tears, tears of happiness. Only, I can’t seem to concentrate on reading anymore. I was gifted Proust the other day. It thrilled me to have an actual book in my hands, and I have to say I once again cannot concentrate. I don’t feel safe I have to feel safe to be able to read at Leisure but I’m not safe anymore but I’m glad you’re there. Xox

[@bigapplechinglish]

totally relate to the fact that 'concentration' is definitely an issue...I did the audio version translated by Suyematz Kenchio...I will attempt other versions sometime...take care and enjoy...

[@reidothetorpedo7846]

You’re the best! Welcome back!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much!

[@dorothysatterfield3699]

Oh, wow, you've really whetted my appetite. I've had the Tyler translation sitting on my shelves for a couple of years, along with many, many others I want to get to, but now I've set it on the table in front of me and I want to get started. I'm in the middle of The Guermantes Way (M's grandmother has just died), but it sounds like Proust and Murasaki Shikibu go together very well. Thanks for such an in-depth and appreciative review!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

My pleasure! From Proust to Shikibu--sounds like you're in the middle of quite the literary feast, indeed! (And now you've made me want to read Proust.)

[@JD-td8kl]

I am currently in Kyoto for vacation! I will be adding this to the list. Thanks mate.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

How perfectly serendipitous!

[@marinellamaccagni6951]

Chris is back with a superawesome review of a superawesome book. Back with a bang! I am very happy to see you again!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so very much for the warm welcome back! :)

[@austinjohnbaker9521]

Man, I’ve had that very same edition of the Tale of Genji sitting unread on my bookshelf for years now. What am I doing with my life, having not read it yet? This books looks to have so much, if not all, of what I look for on a novel. Great video, Chris!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks! Not gonna lie: my already elevated expectations were nonetheless vaulted by this one! You'll get to it when the time is right, just like I did.

[@jackwalter5970]

I missed you! You never disappoint.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Very kind of you--thanks!

[@nolandost3070]

I was craving a masterpiece to dive into this fall now that my adventures with Fathers and Crows is concluding. This video could not have come at a better time and I'm so glad you're back to making content. Thank you for everything you do, you're a beautiful soul.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much! And, O hail, literary serendipity! Wow, from Vollmann to Shikibu--quite a nice feast, I say. Coincidentally, _Genji_ is one of WTV's favorite books!

[@jamesgwarrior1981]

Always wanted to read this one. But now since you reviewed it I don’t have to. 😁 Welcome back 🙂

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Haha, thank you!

[@bradykelso8682]

Welcome back. Can’t wait to explore The Tale of Genji.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks! Woo-hoo!

[@bradykelso8682]

Your amazing video has caused me to take the plunge into The Tale of Genji! Thanks. Happy holidays.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Woohoo! Happy holidays!

[@helenblakeartist]

Thank you for this excellent and illuminating talk about The Tale of Genji; such a beautiful book. I’m currently about two thirds of the way through the Seidensticker translation, and loving it, though I slightly regret now that I didn’t start with Royall Tyler’s translation. I look forward to reading that next. I came to the Genji through Helen Frankenthaler’s woodcuts; I had never heard of it before encountering these in a catalogue. Thank you again.

[@redneckinthebardo]

What a wonderful video! I'm reading Genji now, and you just amplified the experience, so thank you for that. I really appreciate what you do.

[@ryerye3147]

Nice to see you back! once I'm done reading the ' My struggle' book's, I will order the same edition!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks! I just got the new Karl Ove book in the mail yesterday!

[@radiantchristina]

Based on your intro alone, this book is for me. I hope to.get to it 2024 Great video. Thanks for creating this .

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Yay! Hope you enjoy it!

[@fire.smok3]

Great video, already wanted to read this book and now want to read it more

[@LeafbyLeaf]

🙌🙌

[@curtjarrell9710]

I bought this classic today as a Christmas gift to myself. I'm looking forward to reading it in 2024.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

What a great gift! Enjoy!

[@user-tu2mz3nh5b]

It would be great if you could also upload your reviews in podcast format love your passion for literature. Keep it up!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thank you! Yes, the podcast format is something I need to take some time to look into and do. It has been requested a lot!

[@patrickmullowney4220]

i am a genji fanatic. as soon as i finished, i began passing the book to friends, so we could discuss it. three of us managed to finish it, and we became the genji club, discussing it endlessly like our favorite long-running television series. still, i fr prefer the arthur waley translation. i find it by far the most enjoyable.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Wow, that is really cool! Thanks for sharing that with me. And thanks, too, for bumping the Waley up in priority!

[@burke9497]

Wow. I’m all of the types of people that The Tale of Genji is for. I guess I have multiple personalities. Great to see you again Chris! I mean it’s really great to see you again!!!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much! I'm all types, too, so at least we're together in this!

[@astro368]

HE’S BACK

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Cue the _Poltergeist_ score!

[@astro368]

@@LeafbyLeafAmazing to hear your thoughts on The Tale of Genji. Have you read Kawabata’s Nobel Prize speech on the history of Japanese literature? It’s published in full at the end of the Dandelions paperback. To me Kawabata is the modernist Japanese author who is most indebted to Heian-period literature

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I've only read excerpts of it from my perusals during _Genji_ adventures--and I've read (and reviewed) _Snow Country_ . Sounds like I need to seek out the full speech. Thank you!

[@bradykelso8682]

You’ve got the best bookshelf ever!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks! They are, quite literally, a dream come true!

[@jackeverett328]

WELCOME BACK CHRIS!!!!!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thank you!

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

I like how you do your reviews and even if I normally wouldn't consider the novel I do hearing your reviews. I like the idea of not giving a summary, but I feel like I have to, especially on Goodreads.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks so much! I often simply forget to give a summary or quick plot or context, so it's not necessarily by design. Plus, the way I see it, people can read the summary just about anywhere.

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

@@LeafbyLeaf I just don't like doing them, because I have to come up with up with a way to explain the plot without giving things away, especially when I already have trouble with reviews.

[@litcrit1624]

Saved for later - but can say now that Genji was the best novel I read last year. Mindblowingly good.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Hear! Hear!

[@sachienimtz798]

I grew up in Japan. There were multiple volumes of manga based on Genji. I devoured them when I was in HS. Thanks for reviewing it!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Oh, that's cool! I've still not explored any manga yet. One day...

[@Liliquan]

There's manga on almost everything. There's a manga of 三國志 which is a 1500 year old ancient Chinese historical treatise.

[@jonathanwirakusuma8124]

Oh my god, I finished this a month ago! I can't say I fell in love with the book, but there were moments in the book where I tear up quite a bit (Spoiler- Genji losing Murasaki is the first that comes to mind), that ending too, I kept thinking on how it will end only for it to just finish. Though to be fair, the more time passed the more it seem appropiate, it started abruptly and it ends abruptly. Today I also finished the tale of Heike (Which to be honest I kinda feel had more of an impact to me than Genji- though of course, it is unfair to compare such different genre of literature, even if they are made in the same region!) I wonder if you will follow this up with that, very excited if you will :D. Now I'm probably going to start reading the Iliad (Seem appropiate after reading The Heike) and continue my read of Life and Fate. I couldn't find anyone to discussed this book when I had done reading it. But even so, I think this video will make up for it. Thanks a lot for doing this Chris! :D

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Yes, that moment you cited in your comment also gripped my heart--especially the way Shikibu drew it out and did a couple of fake-outs on us! It was like as if Natasha has died in _War and Peace_ ! Those Uji chapters are so perfectly drawn, too. Thanks for amping up the _Heike_ for me--I've got the Tyler translation and look forward to reading it. In which translation are you going to read the _Iliad_ ? Emily Wilson's translation comes out on Tuesday!

[@jonathanwirakusuma8124]

Aaaaah, I watched the video and really like it (awaiting part 2 :D) I know right, that moment was definitely one of the peak moments in the novel for me! That and another where early on (Again spoiler for anyone who hasn't read the book) Where Genji accidentally killed one of his love interests, it was early on in the book (Chapter 4?)but I think she died from an evil spirit. It was really heartbreaking because I genuinely thought she would survive only to die a couple pages later. Also, Oh no! I haven't read war and peace yet, so I don't get this reference! That's probably ironic considering I'm less than a hundred pages away from finishing life and fate and I can kinda already tell that this is going to be one of my favorite books alongside Blood Meridian and In search of lost time. But I've only read Anna Karenina. Robert Fagles! I read the odysey this year (February if my e-reader is correct) in preparation for my reading of Ulysses and used the same translation and I really like it! (Though that ending kinda annoys me, but that's no fault of Robert) I haven't heard of Emily Wilson, is she any good? Any examples of her translation work? Also P.s. Read the first two chapters of the Iliad. Haven't been gripped yet. Started to wander and read Emerson's poem. Hopefully Homer will hook me before I read too much of Emerson. >_

[@DulceN]

Genji Monogatari is definitely one of my favourite books, I could not put it down until I finished reading it. I learnt much about the Heian period, which I find quite fascinating. As a Spaniard, I also appreciated the reference to Don Quijote and Miguel de Unamuno.

[@theheadytimetraveler3864]

The King is back! Now the Kingdom will finally rejoice in returning peace....Looking forward to the Q&A....and, admittedly, watching this full review (after I read the Tale of Genji)....✌️

[@LeafbyLeaf]

This is too much, lol!

[@theheadytimetraveler3864]

@@LeafbyLeaf Maybe I am being a bit heavy on the dramatics...No, no, I'll just have to agree to disagree lol

[@LeafbyLeaf]

XD

[@brendanward2991]

I read the Arthur Waley translation a few decades ago, knowing that it's not the best translation. I was totally blown away by it. It was hard to believe that it had been written around the time of the Battle of Clontarf, when my ancestors were barely civilized. I might have been reading a psychological novel from the 1920s, like Proust, Mann or Joyce. I hope to reread it sometime in the Royall-Tyler translation.

[@brendanward2991]

I actually sought out an online translation of the chapter Waley omitted. I suppose I was fooling myself that I had now read the whole of this masterpiece. But of course this is not really true. Waley omitted shorter passages, I understand, and the free style of his translation probably gives one a very misleading impression of the impact the book made on Heian Japan.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Perhaps I discredited Waley too much in this video. I have heard that his translation is very enjoyable indeed, without thinking in terms of fidelity to the original, so how could I not want to enjoy this prose? I'll most likely visit the Waley after the Seidensticker (which I'm already planning for next autumn). Cheers!

[@reef6826]

LxL doing what LxL does best.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

:)

[@tonerperson280]

Welcome back

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks!

[@MrNiceguyjin]

I’m also a Japanese to English translator, and this book has been on my list for YEARS. I only had to read the Yūgao chapter (4, I think?) in college. One of these days I’ll tackle it!Definitely should as it is referenced a lot in Japan. 😅

[@LeafbyLeaf]

So many books, so little time!

[@TimothyStanley-u9s]

Amazing, I just started the Tuttle abridged version this week. Very cool. BTW is that a Lev Tolstoy autograph t-shirt??

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Yep, it is indeed Tolstoy's signature! Good eye. It looks like that Tuttle abridged edition has the first 17 chapters and is translated by Kencho Suematsu. I've got no exposure to that particular translation, but the first 17 chapters should whet your appetite very well. (Though I will say the final 10 chapters of the book are possibly the finest.)

[@ToddsBookTube91]

Todd here. Classic story. I first discovered it years ago while surfing on wikipedia

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Hey there, Todd! There's a big point in Wikipedia's favor!

[@ToddsBookTube91]

@@LeafbyLeaf I found out about your channel by another booktuber named Jonny Keen.

[@shaanparwani]

​@@LeafbyLeafI'm so glad u read The Tale of Genji it is one of the most greatest japanese novels.

[@elsakristina2689]

I don’t have any print of the book, but I’ve read bits and pieces of it and from what I’ve seen, my favourite translation would have to be a tie between the Arthur Waley translation and this Royall Tyler translation.

[@natashapschool]

just like summer seasons are for reading Bradbury, fall seasons are for reading Japanese literature)

[@LeafbyLeaf]

That's a good rule of thumb! I take it you didn't miss your annual reading of _Dandelion Wine_ this year, eh? :)

[@natashapschool]

🙂i read it twice & listened to it 3 or 4 times this summer, i'm not joking

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I love it when we have a book with which we connect so deeply!

[@jonnyvanderhorst]

Definitly gonna read this now...

[@LeafbyLeaf]

:)

[@antonioleonardo7165]

if you have read this Monogatari, you propably have heard of the Heike Monogatari? Are you planing on reading it? Im currently doing that, planing to get to the Genji Monogatari afterwords. The more i read japanese Literature i fall in love with this completly different style of writing. ps: Sorry for my bad english ;) keep the work up, i like these chill videos quit mutch, thanks

[@Ozgipsy]

Brilliant. On it.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Hope you enjoy!

[@babettedejong2975]

Okay, so, then the Tale of Genji is for me. ❤️

[@LeafbyLeaf]

:):):)

[@kittraverse9871]

I heard somewhere that this is one of Vollmanns favorite books.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Ahhhh, I meant to mention that in the video! Yes, it's noted in the Vollmann Reading, _Expelled from Eden_ .

[@kittraverse9871]

@@LeafbyLeaf I need to read that one soon, thanks for the reminder!

[@cristinaa3186]

Great video! Do you plan to read other Japanese classics such as The pillow book, or you’re back to modern literature?

[@LeafbyLeaf]

At present, I'm in _Paradise Lost_ , so, not Modern but Renaissance. :) I'm always a little all over the place with my reading, but, after _Genji_ I really do want to explore more of the ancient Eastern classics. I got unabridged editions of the _Mahabharata_ and _Ramayana_ for my birthday, and _The Pillow Book_ and _The Story of the Stone_ are awaiting me. So the answer to your two-pronged question is: yes!

[@cristinaa3186]

Seems you have a great journey ahead! Can’t wait to learn about your impressions on those works. Thanks

[@bradykelso8682]

Do you have the Inner Sanctum edition of War and Peace on one of those shelves/ 😀

[@LeafbyLeaf]

No, I don't. But I see that that edition uses the Maude translation, which I don't have, so, well, thank you!

[@GypsyRoSesx]

I was planning to read Genji this year but reading plans changed. I have the Washburn translation. Have you preordered Emily Wilson’s translation of The Iliad?

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I totally understand that. My reading plans seem to have been a bit of a roller coaster this year! I, too, had the Washburn and planned to read it, but I went with the Tyler. I talk about way in the "Choosing a Translation" section of the video. Yes, I really enjoyed Wilson's translation of _Odyssey_ and have been straining for the arrival of _Iliad_ ! Did you know she is A. N. Wilson's daughter? I had no idea until I read the profile of her in the latest _New Yorker_ .

[@GypsyRoSesx]

@@LeafbyLeafyes I saw that part in the video afterward and I thought I might have chosen the wrong translation, but it’s ok as I can always read that version another time if I really want to. I did research on the translations when making my choice, but I don’t remember now why I went with Washburn. I didn’t know that about Emily Wilson and her father. They have a distinguished family! I’m very excited for her book. I will read it in January-which is when I do my reread of Homer. The timing is great because I alternate books and 2024 is The Iliad and it would be a little painful to have had to wait a further 12 months.

[@salamantitus7331]

First actually complete translation was Seidensticker's. Waley's is missing a chapter so it's technically not complete. I chose Seidensticker because that's likely the one William T. Vollmann read and the one that made him fall in love with the book. I will read the modern ones later.

[@TK-kf8zc]

My solution to withdrawals: The Tale of the Cavern, anonymous, 560 pages, written 30 years before in 970. About a musical instrument that passes through 4 generations of a family.

[@andreaacostamusic]

sold.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Woohoo!

[@alexandrianova6298]

You should come to our Meetup, we're discussing the Tale of Genji in the World Philosophy Group

[@LeafbyLeaf]

When and where? :)

[@misquotedbuffalo7125]

He finally read it

[@LeafbyLeaf]

At long last! (Yet the list of books I really need to get around to seems no shorter.)

[@redouane-is9qk]

❤😊

[@LeafbyLeaf]

😁😁😁

[@nozecone]

What does "ditherum" (sp?) (28:29) mean? Can't find anything through google

[@LeafbyLeaf]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dithyramb

[@nozecone]

Ah! Thanks. I would have expected a bit more of a "ram" pronunciation at the end - but I still would have to had to refresh my memory as to the meaning, tbh ... !@@LeafbyLeaf

[@Etherchannel]

I am still eagerly waiting for your video on Women and Men.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

I can tell you that I'm putting off that one as long as I can stand it because I know I'm gonna love it so I don't wanna read it because I don't want it to be over. Does that make sense? Seriously though, I'm saving it for my last McElroy. But _Lookout Cartridge_ will be up sooner rather than later, if it's any consolation. :)

[@Etherchannel]

@@LeafbyLeaf Did you pay the exorbitant prices on the secondhand market for Lookout Cartridge or were you able to get it from your library? I was lucky enough to get it via interlibrary loan.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Luckily, I jumped on _LC_ years and years ago when you could still get a decent used hardcover for around $30. I got my first-edition hardcover of _Women and Men_ at a community library sale in a mountain town for...50 cents!

[@marcelhidalgo1076]

@@LeafbyLeaf are you skipping Hind"s Kidnap?

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Absolutely not! In fact, I’ve lately been feeling drawn to Lookout Cartridge and Hind’s Kidnap. 😁

[@barbarawatson343]

"if you're the type of person for whom that first yellowing leaf - that first September morning chill - sends you into absolute hysterics for the autumn season, then The Tale of Genji is a book for you" where is the lie

[@LeafbyLeaf]

?

[@barbarawatson343]

​@@LeafbyLeaf"where is the lie" is just modern slang in response to somebody stating an undeniable truth I just finished The Tale of Genji earlier this year so this review couldn't be better timed!

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Ooooooh, gotcha! Went right over my head. :) Thanks so much!

[@rishwiz9]

Ah! Back with an Oriental themed bang 😅. I tried this particular translation too but found the Waley translation better and funnier.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Thanks for nudging the Waley back up in my priority! Eventually I will read it.

[@jamessaldariega3011]

More japanese literature 🙏🙏

[@LeafbyLeaf]

My trajectory of Murakami, Soseki, Kawabata, Mishima, Shikibu has been very interesting and invigorating!

[@mmrk511]

日本の公共放送局が今年1年かけて紫式部の生涯の時代劇を放送してて大ヒットしてるんだけど、その影響で日本ではいま、源氏物語のウェイリーの英訳版の和訳版が流行っているよ。私の世代以降の日本人は、学校教育のカリキュラムが変わって平安時代の古典をあまり勉強してないくてわからないから、ウェイリーが西洋文化に置き換えた描写の方がわかりやすいんだ。

[@PotatoCandyDarling]

I see Moby Dick peeking in the background. Are we getting an analysis of your favorite american novel soon 👀

[@LeafbyLeaf]

You're the first to say something about my little Easter egg! A friend of mine recently gifted me that hardcover Modern Library edition with the Rockwell illustrations, so it's there partly to honor that incredible gesture. But, yes, it is also meant as a declaration that the video is coming. Though maybe not exactly soon. There's something so intimidating and almost sacrilegious about trying to do a video on this one!

[@PotatoCandyDarling]

@@LeafbyLeaf there’s a lot to get through there! Certainly will click on it. Maybe youll motivate me to pick it up again. First read it about five years ago and need to go at it again

[@joseramirez-hh2sw]

The tale of genji joins the chat Me: I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I wanna go home.

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Hee hee.

[@joseramirez-hh2sw]

​@@LeafbyLeafperhaps it's just my own heart's warning, but I put off the tale of genji for some years, funny really when I say it, it really downs on me that it's been that long. But really I had to walk away from it. Just as entrance by it when I approached it first I then closed, and never opened , never came back, like it had both filled a hole in my earlier self and scared me shitless at the same time, like a relationship you start with a girl and break up two weeks later, you like her but you didn't know her or were ready for all that- only of course to bump into her again outside her new workplace by chance and then proceed to avoid despite it having been your go to place before all that transpire. I'm getting older and the bravery of my youth and it's embarrassing lack in matters of the heart has mellowed. But it scares me to peek at myself through a book that might as well be the embodiment of a window through time, at least to me. A window I will however open again while the sunlight and heat rays from a summer I put off are still fresh on my skin and on my mind. I might even go for a bike ride too and see what I can peer through on it's other side, that window I've kept shut.

[@GypsyRoSesx]

First 🍃

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Bravo!

[@Houdingplaces]

Was expecting your hair to be super long again

[@LeafbyLeaf]

Hahahaha!

[@charlettea.p.kealoha5906]

Looking for a child book for Genji grandson nickname. Hearing about the history behind the name I call my son little 1 . sadly I did Not ask permission to do so. His 3 now characteristics is so of one with nature adors he's but seek to see mother and back to dad Yet! Only mom he'll allow to walk around with. Me I sit far doing anything he'll come over no talking then participate am speaking Japanese looking for understanding of the name and the little 1 in him. Ocean only with dad he's Hawaiian. Yet tilt head over to glance at Mom and gives this wonder look at me I am never looking at him I await.any feedback to me be great

[@zZwingli]

"world literature" lmao

[@Tolstoy111]

What’s funny about that phrase?