Appraising Genji: Literary Criticism and Cultural Anxiety in the Age of the Last Samurai

CONTENTS

CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi CHRONOLOGY AND CONVENTIONS IN THIS BOOK xiii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE Heian Fantasies: Nationalism and Nostalgia in the Reading of Genji 9 The Edo Period and the Rise of Nativism 21 CHAPTER TWO Hagiwara Hiromichi: Masterless Samurai and Iconoclastic Scholar 27 Profound Loss in an Age of Enlightenment 30 From Poetry to Poetics 35 Osaka: Encounters with Heterodox Learning 38 Takizawa Bakin and the Edo “Novel” 44 Marketing a New Way to Read Genji 46 vi APPRAISING GENJI CHAPTER THREE From Moral Contention to Literary Persuasion 49 The Design of the Monogatari and Norinaga’s Mono no Aware Theory 51 The Main Point of the Monogatari 57 Commentaries on Genji 66 Transcending the Limitations of Traditional Structure and Format 73 Guiding the Reader 74 Conclusion 77 CHAPTER FOUR Exposing the Secrets of the Author’s Brush 81 Historical Sources for the “Principles of Composition” 82 “Principles of Composition” and Literary Style 90 Conclusion 95 CHAPTER FIVE Ambiguity and the Responsive Reader 99 “Principles of Composition” and the Structure of Genji as a Whole 101 Gaps in the Narrative and Hiromichi’s Theory of Ambiguity 104 Techniques and Terminology 110 “Principles of Composition” Unique to the Hyōshaku in Genji Commentary 111 “Major and Minor” or “Principal and Auxiliary” Characters 111 “Lead and Secondary” Characters 113 “Corresponding” or “Contrasting” Characters 113 “Opposing” Characters or “Character Foils” 114 “Retroactive Parallel” and “Retroactive Correspondence” 114 “Narrative Interlude” 116 “Foreshadowing” 117 “Comparative Description” 118 “Control of Narrative Pace” 119 “Reversal” 120 “Ellipsis” 120 “Lingering Presence” or “Resonance” 121 “Narrative Seed” 121 “Retribution” 123 CONTENTS vii “Allegory” 123 “Context” 124 Terms from Previous Genji Commentaries 124 “Close Correspondence” 125 “Textual Parallelism or Intertextuality” 125 “Planning” or “Discretion” 125 “Authorial Intrusion” 126 “Aesthetic After-effect” and “Aesthetic Satisfaction” 127 Conclusion 127 CHAPTER SIX Translating Genji into the Modern Idiom 131 Tree Spirits and Apparitions 131 The Disappearance of Ukifune 136 The Problem of Edo 143 Cultural Anxiety and the First Translation of Genji into English 147 Genji and the Essence of the Modern Novel 154 Conclusion 160 NOTES 163 APPENDIX I Character Glossary of Premodern Names,Titles, and Terms in Chinese and Japanese 185 APPENDIX II List of Major Commentaries on Genji 191 BIBLIOGRAPHY 195 INDEX 207 ...