Michael Emmerich thoroughly revises the conventional narrative of the early modern and modern history of
The Tale of Genji
. Exploring iterations of the work from the 1830s to the 1950s, he demonstrates how translations and the global circulation of discourse they inspired turned
into a widely read classic, reframing our understanding of its significance and influence and of the processes that have canonized the text.
Emmerich begins with an analysis of the lavishly produced best seller
Nise Murasaki inaka Genji
(
A Fraudulent Murasaki's Bumpkin Genji, 1829–1842
), an adaptation of
Genji
written and designed by Ryutei Tanehiko, with pictures by the great print artist Utagawa Kunisada. He argues that this work introduced
to a popular Japanese audience and created a new mode of reading. He then considers movable-type editions of
Inaka Genji
from 1888 to 1928, connecting trends in print technology and publishing to larger developments in national literature and showing how the one-time best seller became obsolete.
The study subsequently traces
's reemergence as a classic on a global scale, following its acceptance into the canon of world literature before the text gained popularity in Japan. It concludes with
's becoming a "national classic" during World War II and reviews an important postwar challenge to reading the work after it attained this status. Through his sustained critique, Emmerich upends scholarship on Japan's preeminent classic while remaking theories of world literature, continuity, and community.