Synopses & Reviews
A masterpiece of world literature; the samurai saga of pride, romance, and warfare of medieval JapanWith a reflection on the fleeting nature of power and glory begins The Tale of the Heike, an epic from twelfth-century Japan. Comparable in stature to The Tale of Genji, The Tale of the Heike narrates with wit, energy, and compassion the stories of such unforgettable characters as the ruthless warlord Kiyomori, who dies still burning with such rage that water poured on him boils; Hotoke, the beautiful young dancer who renounces wealth and fame to follow her conscience; Shigemori, the tyrantandrsquo;s righteous son, who struggles against all odds to uphold fairness and justice; and Yoshitsune, the daring commander who defeats the enemy in battle after battle, only to be condemned by his jealous, powerful brother.
The Tale of the Heike is a foundation stone of Japanese culture and a major masterpiece of world literature. Lavishly illustrated and accompanied by maps, character guides, and genealogies, this book is a volume to treasure.
Review
"Spectacularly beautiful...This will be the English Heike for our time and for many decades to come."
Review
Praise for THE TALE OF GENJI
andldquo;Superbly written and genuinely engagingandhellip;one of those works that can be read and reread throughout oneandrsquo;s life.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;An enormous achievement.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;A new translation that makes Genji accessible to contemporary readers is a landmark event. [Tylerandrsquo;s translation has clearly been a labor of love. In his beautifully written translation he tries to get as close to the original as possible, immersing us in eleventh-century Japan. Mr. Tylerandrsquo;s translation is richly embellished with footnotes that flag for us everything that Murasaki and her contemporaries would have taken for granted. All in all, Mr. Tylerandrsquo;s translation is likely to be the definitive edition of The Tale of Genji for many years to come.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;The Tale of Genji set an insanely high standard for anything that came after it. This latest edition is reader friendly at every turn, with generous footnotes, character lists and lots of illustrations to show what robes looked like, or swords, or houses. You have to reach for comparisons to Tolstoy or Proust to convey just what a captivating experience this story can be.andquot;
Review
andldquo;Tylerandrsquo;s delicate ear for the language of the original helps breathe new life into the story of Genji.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Though [Murasakiandrsquo;s] setting was the royal Japanese court of one thousand years ago, her characters managed to draw the reader into their passion and terrors in an uncannily modern way. [Tylerandrsquo;s translation is] beautifully readableandhellip;it sets a new standard. Not only is this new English edition the most scrupulously true to the original, it also is superbly written and genuinely engaging. We are blessed to have Tylerandrsquo;s help in reading it.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Tyler has long shown himself to be one of the finest translators of Japanese in our era. In producing this new Genji translation, he has been able not only to draw upon his own skills as a writer, but also to build on the efforts and accomplishments of his predecessorsandhellip;the Tyler version is by far the most helpful to the general reader.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;[Tyler] has crafted an elegant translation that remarkably renders this eleventh-century tale in language so lively, vivid and transparent, one could easily believe that the book was written by some gifted postmodernist. Royall Tyler devoted space to explaining, through the introduction and footnotes, nuances of the time, helping help us place them into a modern context. This edition of The Tale of Genji is beautifully realized, both asand#160; translation and as a seamless art object.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Japanese noh theatre or the drama of "perfected art" flourished in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries largely through the genius of the dramatist Zeami. An intricate fusion of music, dance, mask, costume and language, the dramas address many subjects, but the idea of "form" is more central than 'meaning' and their structure is always ritualized. Selected for their literary merit, the twenty-four plays in this volume dramatize such ideas as the relationship between men and the gods, brother and sister, parent and child, lover and beloved, and the power of greed and desire. Revered in Japan as a cultural treasure, the spiritual and sensuous beauty of these works has been a profound influence for English-speaking artists including W. B. Yeats, Ezra Pound and Benjamin Britten.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Synopsis
A masterpiece of world literature; the samurai saga of pride, romance, and warfare of medieval JapanWith a reflection on the fleeting nature of power and glory begins The Tale of the Heike, an epic from twelfth-century Japan. Comparable in stature to The Tale of Genji, The Tale of the Heike narrates with wit, energy, and compassion the stories of such unforgettable characters as the ruthless warlord Kiyomori, who dies still burning with such rage that water poured on him boils; Hotoke, the beautiful young dancer who renounces wealth and fame to follow her conscience; Shigemori, the tyrantandrsquo;s righteous son, who struggles against all odds to uphold fairness and justice; and Yoshitsune, the daring commander who defeats the enemy in battle after battle, only to be condemned by his jealous, powerful brother.
The Tale of the Heike is a foundation stone of Japanese culture and a major masterpiece of world literature. Lavishly illustrated and accompanied by maps, character guides, and genealogies, this book is a volume to treasure.
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 with an Introduction and Notes by Royall Tyler Acknowledgments
Japanese Names and the Pronunciation of Japanese
General Introduction
List of Terms Used in the Stage Directions
Plan of the No Stage
Ama: The Diver
Atsumori
Aya no tsuzumi: The Damask Drum
Chikubu-shima
Eguchi
Funa Benkei: Benkei Aboard Ship
Hagoromo: The Feather Mantle
Hanjo: Lady Han
Izutsu: The Well-Cradle
Kantan
Kasuga ryujin: The Kasuga Dragon God
Kinuta: The Fulling Block
Kureha
Matsukaze: Pining Wind
Nonomiya: The Wildwood Shrine
Saigyo-zakura: Saigyo's Cherry Tree
Seki-dera Komachi: Komachi at Seki-Dera
Semimaru
Sumida-gawa: The Sumida River
Tadanori
Takasago
Tatsuta
Yamamba: The Mountain Crone
Yashima
Bibliography and Comments on Texts Translated