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The Tale of the Heike is Japan's great martial epic; a masterpiece of world literature and the progenitor of all samurai stories, now in a major and groundbreaking new translation by Royall Tyler, acclaimed translator of The Tale of Genji. First assembled from scattered oral poems in the early fourteenth century, The Tale of the Heike is Japan's Iliad - a grand-scale depiction of the wars between the Heike and Genji clans. Legendary for its magnificent and vivid set battle scenes, it is also a work filled with intimate human dramas and emotions, contemplating Buddhist themes of suffering and separation, as well as universal insights into love, loss and loyalty. The narrative moves back and forth between the two great warring clans, between aristocratic society and street life, adults and children, great crowds and introspection. No Japanese work has had a greater impact on subsequent literature, theatre, music and films, or on Japan's sense of its own past. Royall Tyler's new translation is the first to capture the way The Tale of the Heike was originally performed. It re-creates the work in its full operatic form, with speech, poetry, blank verse and song that convey its character as an oral epic in a way not seen before, fully embracing the rich and vigorous language of the original texts. Beautifully illustrated with fifty-five woodcuts from the nineteenth-century artistic master, Katsushika Hokusai, and bolstered with maps, character guides, genealogies and rich annotation, this is a landmark edition. Royall Tyler taught Japanese language and literature for many years at the Australian National University. He has a B.A. from Harvard University and a PhD from Columbia University and has taught at Harvard, Stanford and the University of Wisconsin. His translation of The Tale of Genji was acclaimed by publications such as The New York Times Book Review.
- Sales Rank: #442128 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Viking Adult
- Published on: 2012-10-25
- Released on: 2012-10-25
- Original language: Japanese
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.80" h x 6.50" w x 9.60" l, 2.40 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 784 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
Review
"Spectacularly beautiful...This will be the English Heike for our time and for many decades to come." — Times Literary Supplement
Praise for THE TALE OF GENJI
“Superbly written and genuinely engaging…one of those works that can be read and reread throughout one’s life.” — Liza Dalby, Los Angeles Times Book Review
“An enormous achievement.” — The New York Times Book Review
“A new translation that makes Genji accessible to contemporary readers is a landmark event. [Tyler’s translation has clearly been a labor of love. In his beautifully written translation he tries to get as close to the original as possible, immersing us in eleventh-century Japan. Mr. Tyler’s translation is richly embellished with footnotes that flag for us everything that Murasaki and her contemporaries would have taken for granted. All in all, Mr. Tyler’s translation is likely to be the definitive edition of The Tale of Genji for many years to come.” — The Wall Street Journal
“The Tale of Genji set an insanely high standard for anything that came after it. This latest edition is reader friendly at every turn, with generous footnotes, character lists and lots of illustrations to show what robes looked like, or swords, or houses. You have to reach for comparisons to Tolstoy or Proust to convey just what a captivating experience this story can be." — Newsweek
“Tyler’s delicate ear for the language of the original helps breathe new life into the story of Genji.” — The New Yorker
“Though [Murasaki’s] setting was the royal Japanese court of one thousand years ago, her characters managed to draw the reader into their passion and terrors in an uncannily modern way. [Tyler’s translation is] beautifully readable…it sets a new standard. Not only is this new English edition the most scrupulously true to the original, it also is superbly written and genuinely engaging. We are blessed to have Tyler’s help in reading it.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Tyler has long shown himself to be one of the finest translators of Japanese in our era. In producing this new Genji translation, he has been able not only to draw upon his own skills as a writer, but also to build on the efforts and accomplishments of his predecessors…the Tyler version is by far the most helpful to the general reader.” — The Washington Post Book World
“[Tyler] has crafted an elegant translation that remarkably renders this eleventh-century tale in language so lively, vivid and transparent, one could easily believe that the book was written by some gifted postmodernist. Royall Tyler devoted space to explaining, through the introduction and footnotes, nuances of the time, helping help us place them into a modern context. This edition of The Tale of Genji is beautifully realized, both as translation and as a seamless art object.” — The Cleveland Plain Dealer
From the Author
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About the Author
Royall Tyler, an American, is retired from the Australian National University where he taught Japanese language and literature for many years. He has a B.A. from Harvard University and a PhD. from Columbia University and has taught at Harvard, Stanford and the University of Wisconsin.
Most helpful customer reviews
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful.
If you like verse...
By Bernard Kwan
The Tale of the Heike is a 12th Century Epic about the feud between two warrior clans the Taira (Heike) and the Minamoto (Genji) vying for dominace in a society where the Emperor was greatly weakened and controlled by his court. The Epic has been likened by some to be Japan's Iliad and contains many stirring battle scenes and many of the protagonists have become well known folk heroes in Japan and the tale like that of Miyamoto Musashi has spawned countless novels, TV, film and manga adaptations.
However, the original, like the Iliad was probably meant to be performed episodically over a long period and is long and involved with a cast of hundreds, where periods of tedium are punctuated by interesting battle scenes and intrigue. I had originally purchased a copy of the translation by Helen Craig McCullough in the 1990s but found it rather academic and tedious and lost track of the key protagonists with similar names about 40-50 pages into the book and gave up.
I had recently the good fortune to read Eiji Yoshikawa's historical novel - The Heike Story translated by Fuki Wookenaka Uramatsu. Picking up Yoshikawa's version was like the Rosetta stone, in that it was translated into clean and easily understood English, and being in novel format kept me in suspense. The novel revolves around the life of Kiyomori the Heike warrior from his rise from penury to the pinacle of power. Yoshikawa's descriptions and atmosphere bring many of the key actors and the glittering Heian period to life. Although the translation is somewhat abridged from the original, with subplots and paragraphs that were deemed only intersting to the Japanese excised outright, it still serves as a cracking good read and a way to familiarize oneself with the background and framework of the story.
Having just finished that book, it was quite by chance that I discovered that Royall Tyler had put out a new translation that had extensive reviews (even the New York Times had one) and I was quite keen to read the whole story as the English version of Yoshikawa's novel only covers 2/3 of the story as serialization was still ongoing when it was translated in 1956.
Professor Tyler has attempted to hew as closely and accurately to the original as possible and has made the impressive decision of translating the text into rhythmic lines which is sure to have its share of admirers and detractors. Unfortunately, however, Professor Tyler is no Robert Fitzgerald or Robert Fagles (Iliad) or Seamus Heany (Beowulf) and my own personal opinion is that often the verse slides into the banal and the overall pathos and Buddhist feeling of impermance is lost. I have to say that I did, however, throughly enjoy his translation of the Tale of Genji, which is not in verse.
Comparing the justly famous opening lines:
Helen Craig McCullough :
The sound of the Gion Shoja bells echoes the impermanence of all things;
the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline.
The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night;
the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.
Royall Tyler:
The Jetavana Temple bells
ring the passing of all things,
Twinned sal trees, white in full flower,
declare the Great Man's certain fall.
The arrogant do not long endure:
They are like a dream one night in spring.
The bold and brave perish in the end: They are as dust before the wind
Fuki Wooyenaka Uramatsu: (my personal favourite)
The temple bell echoes the impermanence of all things.
The colors of the flowers testify to the truth that those who flourish must decay.
Pride lasts but a little while, like a dream on a spring night.
Before long the mighty are cast down, and they are as dust before the wind.
Uramatsu only translated the opening lines in his short essay on the historical background of the novel. But I liked his somewhat old fashioned turns of phrase such as the "mighty are cast down" versus "the bold and brave perish in the end" (the three words "in the end" are to me a redundancy) and sometimes the Tyler version has too much information - as in the "Jevatana bells" versus simply "the temple bells". Don't get me wrong I am throughly enjoying his version, as I labor my way through it, but a general reader may be better served by a freer translation (perhaps in the lines of Waley's translation of Genji). So my recommendation is to do as I did - read Yoshikawa first or watch Mizoguchi's movies on the Heike, then you will get a lot more out of this translation.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
The 11th Century aged really well.
By Miyamoto Musashi
It is exactly what I want from an early Japanese War Epic. I read somewhere a review likening this translation of the tale to read like "The Illiad, filtered through Kurosawa". So far it has been exactly that. Quirky and humorous, reflective and meditative, saddening, informative, and thrilling by turns, it tells the story of the downfall of the Taira clan, also pronounced and spelled Heike ("Hey-keh"), after the corrupt tyrant clan leader Taira Kiyomori flaunts his high station and imperial favor over all the land; eventually overthrowing the rightful emperor, with a sentence to exile; places family members in all the key imperial government offices to virtually control all Japan; and kills or exiles those who righteously stand in his way, including the rightful heirs to the Emperors throne.
The once mighty Minamoto clan, also called the Genji, have all but been wiped out due to rivalry against the Heike ( years prior to this tale, as thoroughly explained in a very informative preface), but the remaining members have now come to adulthood and are ready again to confront the Heike.
Filled with vastly interesting characters, stories within stories revealing semi-historical or legendary personages and occurrences of importance relative to the overall tale (or merely anecdotes adding to the atmosphere), and heroic battle scenes depicting early samurai and warrior-monks in very compelling engagements, the translation is very accessible and well-done, complete with illuminating footnotes, appendixes, clan genealogies, maps, and (very compelling) is thoroughly illustrated throughout with great (albeit black and white) ukiyo-e style artwork from the Heike Monogatari Zue.
I've heard this tale is very rewarding and will stay with the reader long after its completion.
I can't imagine it will be otherwise for anyone who treats themselves to this book, myself included.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
A remarkable tale
By aproductofsociety
This classic of world literature is an epic tale of human greed, fear and folly as portrayed through the decisions and mistakes of the two leading clans in Heian-era Japan. I found the book quite engrossing and very sad. It is an excellent counterpart to the Tale of Genji, which seems to take place in a different world entirely -- though the refined world of Genji is entirely intertwined with, and supported by, the brutal world in which the Tale of the Heike subsists. Reading along through self-inflicted catastrophe after self-inflicted catastrophe, one gets the strong impression that very little about human beings has changed during the 800 or so years since the events portrayed here took place. Fortunately, we no longer read stories about rulers ordering children to be rounded up and slaughtered or about brothers plotting to assassinate one another but, absent those extreme situations, The Tale of the Heike seems to be surprisingly contemporary.
I cannot comment on the quality of the translation as I neither speak Japanese nor have read any other version of this work. Even so, I found Royall Tyler's version of this work entirely satisfying, though I did skip some small portions where the book gets bogged down in long lists of the names of various warriors preparing to go into battle.
Whether you are interested in the unsightly truth about human behavior, crave an intimate and yet epic view of Japanese history, or want to expand your knowledge of the greatest world literature, this book is a must read.
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