I am working my way thru the Tale of Genji, the 11th century novel of Japan written by a court lady.
Years ago I tried to read it but got bored with the guy who mainly went around seducing ladies while neglecting his wife; but now I am listening to it on Librivox while reading a download of the novel to try to absorb the details... and am pleased to find his promiscuous ways got him into trouble, and after being in exile (and seducing the daughter of the local Buddhist priest who helped him during a flood), he didn't quite stop seducing ladies, but at least he did try to help the women he had seduced, including letting a few of them stay in his house and arranging for the seduced daughter's child to marry the emperor...
Ironically, at the end, his second son by the Third princess turned out to be actually the son of a relative who forcibly seduced her. She is so traumatized she becomes a Buddhist nun after giving birth (one way to avoid sex in those days) and her seducer essentially kills himself out of regret. But this second son is the hero of the last part of the novel which I haven't read yet.
One feminist blog called Genji a serial rapist.
Sounds about right. The noble women essentially have no power over their lives, and are often married to distant uncaring husbands. So theoretically they are willing to be seduced. Others are single, and/or middle class so have no power to say no.
Not quite rape, but when women are not expected to say no to men, and have few outlets for their boredom, as a modern woman I have little sympathy for the guy.
did I mention he also seduced his stepmother and made her pregnant?
One might add, unlike James Bond or Cassanova, after his exile, Genji does try to make amends to some of the women and brings several of them into his house as minor wives... something of course that his concubine Lady Murasaki (the same name as the author) has to pretend to go along with.
Sigh.
The author, Murasaki, was a court lady and apparently the chapters were very popular: think of them as the romance novels that women read today, which also tend to have ladies swooning all the time...
There are several films based on the book, but I haven't gotten through any of them so far because I am still getting the characters confused.
The best guide to the book (although with a condensced plot) is the manga found here. which includes a lot of background information.
here is a sample page on what was worn back then:
Part of this is my interest in women who are usually in the background of ancient literature.
Even though the author is a woman, the Tale of Genji is about a man, not his long suffering wife with the same name as the author.
But it makes one happy that I live in today's world, where a woman can have alternatives to the limited choices of noble women back then.
One thing missing in the book: Ordinary folks. The only place they are mentioned in some detail is when the floods happen in Akashi during Genji's exile.
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