Tyler is known as an authority on Japanese Literature and this volume serves an excellent introduction to No drama which is quite philosophical and religious in background. Tyler includes several plays which are interesting from both an academic and asthetic viewpoint. I would like to make the suggestion to readers to look up some of Tyler's academic papers in titles such as "The Noh play Matsukaze as a transformation of Genji Monogatari" in Monumenta Nipponica. You can search in Jstor.com at your university library for his articles by author. His work in academic journals is top-notch.

In college I picked up a copy of no dramas and started thumbing through. The plays really caught my attention. The plays are mostly short, and have an emotional impact. The funny thing is, in my opinon, even though these plays are ancient an canonized in Japan, to me, they seemed really off the wall and funky. These plays are easy to read and sympathetic. Not what you might be expecting if you have any prejudgements...

The significance and effect of Noh drama is roughly equivalent to that of the plays of the great tragedians of ancient Greece. Noh combines the spiritual influences of the Buddhist and Shinto religions and the Japanese flair for densely woven, yet elegantly simple, verse in haunting allegories of enlightenment. Every detail, from set construction to the ritual motions of the actors on stage, heightens the poignancy of the plots. While the text of many of the plays are only a few pages long; a performance of a Noh play can last several hours. These plays are not only touching and intensely spiritual, but also provide a valuable resource for westerners who want to understand the roots of Japanese culture.

This novel is, quite simply, my favorite of all books. It has sparked a love for Japanese culture that has persisted from my first reading of it in the mid-1970s.

I have read the entirety of all three of the complete English translations. To my mind, Royall Tyler's is clearly the best of the lot. Even though I can't compare it to the original, given what I know about Heian culture and the other reading I've done, this version somehow seems to capture the spirit of the age beyond what the others achieved. I vastly prefer the way Tyler has approached the matter of identifying the characters, for example. He uses their courtly titles, even though those change during the course of the story. He manages to keep the reader oriented by the straightforward listing of characters that appears at the beginning of each chapter.

Combined with Tyler's other strategies, I feel closer to experiencing the story the way I imagine it was experienced by Murasaki Shikubu's contemporaries. To me this suggests an approach to translation that strives to come to terms with what the text demands; it better conveys the inherent nature and complexity of the prevailing style. Yet Tyler's fluency as a writer nonetheless draws one deep into a character-based story.

I could go on and on, as this novel is one of my great loves. But I'll simply say it's an essential read and that this is the essential translation.

Overall, the book a very good general introduction to Japanese folk tales and mythology. The book is aimed at giving just enough information to orient the reader in Japanese culture, and then letting the tales do the rest of the telling. This is both good and bad. It puts the various stories deservedly at the center, but it also leaves the backround very undeveloped for use in research. People looking for a good reference book might want to search elsewhere. People looking for some really entertaining stories will find them here.

Superbly compiled and translated by Japanese scholar Royall Tyler, this eloquent anthology presents a great deal of diversity as far as materials are concerned. Ranging from exploits of shinto dieties, mythological monsters and animals, playful to erotic tales about samurai, courtesans and ladies, Particularly interesting are the religiously-oriented tales involving various Boddhisattvas and dieties, most notably Kwannon (the buddhist diety of compassion) This book is an inexpensive, accessible and entertaining source to anyone interested in Japanese traditional society

A longtime admirer of Murasaki Shikibu's exceptional work, I fell in love with Genji first through Arthur Waley's translation, which made this admittedly exotic novel accessible to non-Japanese readers. Curious to know more about the Heian period and culture, I acquired Ivan Morris's tremendously helpful and readable "The World of the Shining Prince." Then I discovered Edward Seidensticker's superb rendering of "The Tale of Genji," and have read and re-read that version with deepening understanding and enjoyment. Seidensticker, while presumably adhering closer to the language of the original (which even modern Japanese find difficult to read), gave us a translation which is perfumed by the sensuous beauty of what must have been a truly refined and special time and place (albeit a very limited one).

Now comes Royall Tyler's superb effort, which comes with myriad and very helpful details: each chapter starts with an explanation of the chapter title, how the section relates to previous chapters and the cast of characters. There are also generous appendices including a chronology of events in the novel and a glossary. Line drawings throughout the two volumes (also present in Seidensticker) provide helpful visual clues as to dress and architecture. Tyler's effort seems even closer to the original language, and thereby lies the problem.

This version unnecessarily burdens the reader with ever-changing nomenclature. Since in the original characters are known by their rank-names, and Tyler (mostly) adheres to this usage, the reader is challenged to keep up with the changes. Put the book down for a day or two and you will feel quite lost for several minutes when you restart. As an aide, the translator does provide footnotes to clue you in, but this just makes things more awkward and tedious. For example, at the start of Chapter 43, "Red Plum Blossom" in Tyler's version: "There was in those days a gentleman known as the Inspector Grand Counselor, the late Chancellor's second son, hence the younger brother of the Intendant of the Watch (1)" This same sentence in Seidensticker reads: "Kobai, the oldest surviving son of the late To no Chujo, was now Lord Inspector." How much more to the point!

To conclude, while Tyler's translation is awesome in its scholarship and abundant detail (including sources of the poetry), it is also much less readable. To my mind, the scholarship gets in the way of the story telling. I found myself longing for my Seidensticker at many turns as I went dutifully through the Tyler. Aside from providing a more continuous flow to the story, I also found that Seidensticker's translation of the many poems in the tale more comprehensible and lyrical.

If you are new to this literary masterpiece, you will find the Waley translation the most accessible. If you get hooked on the work, you will probably want the other two. If you must have only one version, however, go with Seidensticker.

If you are reading this it is probably because you have enjoyed Liza Dalby's "Tale of Murasaki" and are wondering if you can handle something of this size. Or perhaps you are already familiar with the scintillating Waley or Seidensticker translations (also worth acquiring and reading) and curious as to why Tyler has even bothered to produce another one. In fact, even in Japan there have been several recent attempts to render the obscure language of the Heian Court into modern Japanese. Junichiro Tanizaki, for example, managed the feat twice. With such a precedent Tyler therefore, perhaps, needs no justification. Anyway, what you need to know is that the new translation surpasses Seidensticker's in being faithful to the poetic economy of Murasaki's prose (though "economy" here still leaves room for some marvellously glutinous, clause-laden sentences) and even succeeds in maintaining the shifting identities of the characters (which change when they receive promotion within the court) without leaving the reader lost. There are also some wonderful and irreverent moments, such as when Tyler has the libidinous Genji complain "I'm not out for hanky panky; all I want to do is sit for a while on her creaky veranda." But the main thing is that this translation is utterly absorbing, wonderfully readable, and as difficult to put down as many a bestselling novel I have come across. It will guarantee around two months of enjoyment to those who like a good psychological story and therefore represents excellent value, even in hardback. For me personally it is simply the best novel I have read and I recommend this translation without any reservations.

I was hesitant to start reading "The Tale of Genji" because it seemed so long and ponderous and serious. It seemed like the kind of novel you read because you should, not because it's fun. That wasn't the case at all! The book is a little obscure, a little hard to read, but it keeps me up reading it at night. The world it evokes is distant, exotic, and poetic. I haven't read the other translations, but I will say that for me it wasn't hard to keep track of who was who, despite the lack of personal names, and I'm glad that this translation stuck close to the original in that respect.

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