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Search - List of Books by Murasaki Shikibu

"Though the body moves, the soul may stay behind." -- Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu (???; c. 973–c. 1014 or 1025), or Lady Murasaki as she is often known in English, was a Japanese novelist, poet, and a maid of honor of the imperial court during the Heian period of Japan. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1008, considered to be the earliest novel in human history.

"Murasaki Shikibu" was not her real name, which is unknown. Some scholars have postulated that her given name might have been Fujiwara Takako, recorded as a name of a lady-in-waiting ranked sh?ji on the 29th day of the 1st month, Kank? 4 (February 19, 1007) according to Mid? Kampaku Ki, a diary written by Fujiwara no Michinaga, although this theory has not been supported by many others. Her own diary, The Murasaki Shikibu Diary, states that she was nicknamed "Murasaki" ("Violet") at court, after a character in The Tale of Genji. "Shikibu" refers to her father's position in the Bureau of Ceremony (shikibu-sh?).

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This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Murasaki Shikibu", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Total Books: 58
Tale of Genji Part One
Tale of Genji Part One (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780385092753
ISBN-10: 038509275X
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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