0731 | The Tale of Genji | Murasaki Shikibu
Context: Had our first real Christmas tree while I was listening to this.
It’s saga time!
Cue three (or maybe four) characters whose names you can remember! Cue football stadium of characters whose names you cannot! Cue love! Cue forbidden love! Cue death! Cue weeping! Cue uncomfortable descriptions of an adult male taking more interest than he should in pre-pubescent girls! Cue elaborate descriptions of yet more elaborate clothing! Cue dilemma of duty versus desire! Cue melodrama! Cue more weeping! Cue editorial inserts in square brackets for bits that scholars earn doctorates debating! Cue mystical descriptions of landscapes! Cue scandal! Cue exile! Cue restitution! Cue rape! Cue yet more weeping! Cue sudden shift of focus as main character (who the whole thing is blinkin’ named after for goodness sake) simply vanishes! Cue more love! Cue the folly of youth! Cue unrequited love! Cue further interminable weeping! Cue ending that mysteriously peters out! Cue afterword by some scholar you’ve never heard of explaining why ending peters out! Cue period of time wondering what that was all about despite the fact that you kind of enjoyed it!
The End
… or at least
An End
