audiobooks
Cover of Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji, Version 2)

Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji, Version 2)

Murasaki Shikibu

Length
8 h 2 min
Chapters
18
Language
English
First published
1888

Genji Monogatari, or The Tale of Genji, is a Japanese classic novel from the eleventh century. Supposedly commissioned by members of the Imperial Family, it tells the story of the son of the Emperor's favorite concubine and his role as a privileged boy and man, but not quite recognized as royal. He is placed in a loveless marriage, but continues a number of 'friendships' with the women of the court. This translation brings us the first seventeen chapters, and there is some dispute over the authorship of later (not included) chapters. The book gives us a fascinating insight into court life of the period. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

Chapters

From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org), the text (opens babel.hathitrust.org), all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org).