Hi everyone In this video I am going to compare The
Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki of Japan, world’s first novel and Shahnameh by Ferdowsi,
the longest poem by a single author. You might be surprised that despite their obvious
differences they have a lot in common. You might ask why compare these two? You
are right they couldn’t be more different. Shahnameh is somewhat similar to the Game of
Thrones, written by a man and mostly for men, The Tale of Genji on the other hand is
somewhat similar to Fifty Shades of Grey, written by a woman and most likely for women. What
interested me first was the fact that both were written in exactly the same time around 1010. But
the main reason for comparison is the place they hold in their respective language and culture.
When you think Japanese and Persian literatures, these two books are first on the list
and the people are very proud them. I made videos talking about them individually
so you can watch them here on this channel. Okay, before we compare the two let me tell you
very briefly about the authors and the books. Lady Murasaki (973 or 978 – c. 1014
or 1031)-worked at the Heian Court in Kyoto as a poet and tutor to a young
princess. We don't know her real name. In fact all the characters in Genji are
nameless, only called by their ranks. Ferdowsi (944-1020) born in Tus in
north-eastern Iran or Khorasan as it was called back then was a landowner and
spent his entire life writing the Shahnameh to leave a personal legacy for himself and
a cultural legacy for the Persian people. The Tale of Genji tells the story of a prince
called Genji and his romantic adventures with women. He’s good-looking, a good poet and
a very sensitive man. This book basically follows his life, and then his son’s life
mainly focusing on the romantic adventures. Shahnameh as the name suggests is a book about
kings. It’s a collection of myths and stories of the Persian people from the first man to the
Arab invasion in 650, covering thousands of years. Divided into three sections, mythical, heroic
and historical. So it contains lots of myths, legends, heroes and some history too. The
main hero of the book is the Herculean Rostam. Now, lets’ compare the two. As we know both were written around the
same time. Shahnameh was finished in 1010 and Genji around 1008. Both
are a thousand year old books. Shahnameh is written entirely in verse, some
50,000 rhyming couplets to make it easy for people to memorise as most people couldn't read
back then. Genji is in prose with some 800 poems. Both are pretty long about 1300
pages in English translations. Shahnameh is written in Khorasani Persian,
so Iranians, Afghans and Tajiks understand 90-95% of it, which is remarkable given it’s a
thousand years old. Genji is written in court Japanese so highly formal, therefore modern
Japanese readers read it through translation. Shahnameh has 62 stories. Genji
has 54 chapters. In both cases, the stories or chapters can be read separately. Both holds some records. Genji for
being the first psychological novel and Shahnameh for the longest
poem by a single author. Shahnameh is set in Iran but mainly in Khorasan,
which is north-eastern Iran, northern Afghanistan, and central Asia, mainly around the river Oxus.
Genji is set in western Japan mainly in and around Kyoto. Khorasan in Arabic means the land of the
sun. Japan or Nipon in Chinese means the land of the rising sun. Both places had politically and
to some extent culturally stronger neighbours to the west at the time of writing whom they
looked up to, or in the case of Ferdowsi looked away. So both works mainly looked to
the east, away from their western neighbours. Both works were illustrated in the
centuries that followed. Genji was first illustrated in the 12th century
and later in 15th and 16th centuries. Shahnameh was illustrated in the 13th
century during the Mogul Ilkhanate. Both works are the best examples of their
respective illustration paintings. Genji is based on Buddhist idea that life
is full of suffering, in all its aspects, be it love or politics. Shahnameh is based on
Zoroasterian philosophy of one god and two forces, good and evil, construction and destruction.
Both works depict the passage of time. In Shahnameh good times come to end too quickly and
then you have to work hard to build it again. Continuous construction and destruction. In the
tale of Genji, Genji’s romantic feelings are fleeting from one woman to the next, but there
is no everlasting happiness in either work. Shahnameh deals with wars, violence and endless
instability and some romances as well. Genji has no wars. Shahnameh is set in a part of the
world that looks like a corridor between all these different empires and civilizations so the
narrative centres on keeping the Persians safe. Genji is set on an island that has never been
invaded by foreign forces. Also it was written by a woman who says that politics is not for women.
Genji does become a political figure towards the end, but the focus is always love not war. See
the connection with Yoko Ono and John Lennon? Shahnameh has many heroes, but Rostam appears to
be the main one if you push me against the wall. He’s half Iranian and half Kabuli. Genji’s father
is an emperor and mother a concubine. This half thing is plenty in Shahnameh. All the major heroes
have a foreign mother. Japanese are fascinated by mixed race kids, often exoticized in the media.
Not sure in Iran now, but certainly in olden days, halves were much fuller than full.
I don't know if that makes sense. Shahnameh deals with people who are too
proud. I guess when you have to fight, you have to be boastful and trash-talk to
your enemies. Genji, there is a lot of lot of silence and silent suffering. Being selfless,
especially Genji’s beloved wife, Murasaki, her silent suffering is pretty powerful and
seems to give Genji a lot to think about. In Shahnameh true kings and their
sons have something called farr, like a shining halo. Hikaru Genji simply
means the shining Genji. His face radiates something that women go crazy about.
His illegitimate son too has that look. Sound vs silence
Shahnameh has a lot of artificial sound like horns, drums, but
Genji has a lot of natural sound like insects, rain and clothes. A lot of silence too.
Meaningful silences. In Shahnameh people express their feelings and opinions verbally
and openly. In Genji they read their gestures, manners, and the way one walks. If they
don't help, then they answer in poetry. Neither book has a real plot, so kind of meanders
from story to story, a sequence of events. Shahnameh as a whole may not have a plot,
but there are plenty of stories that keep you on you the edge. Rostam-Sohrab, Rostam-Esfandyar,
Siyavash to name a few. In Genji’s tale Lady Rakujo’s curse is pretty scary, but the
rest it reads like a diary than a thriller. Shahnameh was written in reaction to the Arab
Muslim invasion, so Ferdowsi wanted to revive Persian language and culture. He’s quite open
about it. Genji was written at the time when Chinese was the language of the literature in
Japan, and Murasaki says that Chinese is too coarse and masculine for women, so she advises
women to use the feminine Japanese. Both works is said to contain very few loanwords from Arabic
and Chinese respectively. Both books signal a shift from their dominant foreign language to
the local language, like the Canterbury tales. One of the biggest difference is dualism. Dividing
the world into good and evil. Shahnameh based on Zoroastrianism divides the world into two forces,
construction and destruction or good and bad, which was later adopted by Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. Genji on the other hand makes no clear distinction between
the two. The scariest character is lady Rakujo but one can say Genji could be a villain, but all
the characters have some redeeming qualities and shortcomings. This is a Daoistic or Buddhist
view. You’re neither this and that but both. Both books are used to promote national
identity in Iran and Japan. In Iran numerous Iranian dynasties adopted the book
as a source of pride of Persian civilisation, but the current regime doesn't promote
it very openly as it contradicts with its Islamic identity. In Japan, especially after
the Meiji ended the 250 years of isolation, Genji was seen as truly depicting the spirit
of Japanese and some intellectuals questioned China and the west for not having such a
great literary masterpiece in their history. The Tale of Genji is much better known in the
west. If you look at Goodreads.com, the ratings and reviews for Genji is double of Shahanameh’s.
This is not scientific but a good indication. I think the main reason is that Japanese
literature is taught in more universities around the world than Persian literature. Also Genji as
a brand, has that first novel label, and easier to translate since it was written in prose. Shahnamah
on the other hand written in verse and very much tied to the Persian language and in its musicality
and rhythmic sound, so translation may not convey those qualities. Also Shahnamah depicts Iranians
as the good guys, non-Iranians as the bad guys. While Genji the focus on romance, something quite
universal. Also these days most readers are women. My recommendation is to read both of
course. Shahnamah is an easier read, with some amazing dragons, ogres, demons and a
king with two snakes growing of his shoulders and a horse that’s smarter than human. You
might need a map of the area as the story takes place in many parts of Iran, Afghanistan
and central Asia. Reading Genji is a more serious endeavour to understand the Heian Court so
most people read it for scholarly reasons. I alternated between the two, one
chapter from each. This was fun, like one moment watching an action movie, the
next a romance. This comparison was just for the sake of understanding, so not meant to say
one is better than the other. I love them both. They are both amazing works of literature
and the whole world should be proud of them. Anyway, despite their differences they
do share a lot. No matter where you live or in what period in history, humans have
always struggled with the question of meaning in their lives. These two books illustrate that
we are all the same, despite speaking different language and wearing different clothes or
worshipping different gods. We all want to be happy and live a meaningful life. And
that’s the main theme of these two books. Let me know if you want to compare another two
classics of world literature. I am on a journey to the read books and stories from every country
on earth. So please make suggestions for books from your country. Also tag along by subscribing
and sharing. Thank you and happy reading!
