A Summary and Response to "The Aesthetics of Power: Politics in the Tale of Genji" by Haruo Shirane
A Summary and Response to "the Aesthetics of Power: Politics in The Tale of Genji" by Haruo Shirane In his article, Shirane suggests that many people and themes in the Genji book are based on or inspired by historical or literary figures and notions. However, it is also noted that Murasaki Shikibu incorporated her own aspirations into her masterpiece. Shirane compares the characters in the book with historical figures, illustrating how the people in history get embodied into their fictional counterparts. He first shows that Kiritsubo Emperor is the alternative version of the historical Daigo Emperor, by indicating that the two have the same father (Shirane, p. 621), and the reign of Kiritsubo is similar to that of Daigo (Shirane, p. 622). In addition, Genji in the book is based on a real Genji named Minamoto no Takaakira, son of the Daigo Emperor (Shirane, p. 624). Takaakira was then the Minister of the Left and married his daughter to a likely candidate for crown prince, but later he was pushed into an exile (Shirane, p. 625 & 635). Fujitsubo in the book also echoes an important historical figure, the Empress Dowager Senshi, because both of the two had renounced the secular world but were still possessing the highest political power as the mother of the reigning emperor (Shirane, p. 638 & 639). Not only could people be traced back to historical figures, themes in the book also have their basis out of the novel. Genji's exile in Suma and later rising to higher power is a literary convention called "exile of the young noble," in which a young aristocrat or divine being, after suffering in a distant land, returns to his or her homeland with glory (Shirane, p. 616). The Sekkan system in author's time is also reflected in the book, as we see that as soon as Suzaku becomes emperor, his mother and grandfather take the power and try to banish Genji as the Fujiwara clan did to Takaakira in real history (Shirane, p. 619, 625 & 635). However, Genji's travel to Suma is