Romance, travel, encounters with the supernatural, and a hero so perfect he seemed to belong in a bygone age.
The women of Murasaki Shikibu's time who lived in the Nobel courts didn't really have much for lives. They were only to be seen by two men in their lives their fathers and their husbands. If they were to go out in public they would be in an ox drawn carriage that only had a slit to see out of. The women didn't have much to do besides write poetry and work on their calligraphy. Women only had one physical attribute that the men of their time were all that interested in seeing and that was their hair. It was considered beautiful for women's hair to be longer than they were tall.
It is no wonder with this lack of attention that these women have tales of romance told about their time that today we would look at and consider it to be rape and not romance. Men basically just tried to get behind the women screen, which they stayed behind to keep themselves from being seen by men, and the men then just mostly had their way.
While this may be the first romance novel this is not the type of romance that I personally find all that interesting. Actually I am really not that interested in reading about romance novels at all but I did find it interesting that the biggest worry that the women who were actually being wooed by me was how long they would be able to hold the attention of their suitor. In the Tale of Genji; Genji, the hero, continues to take care of the women he has corted even after he has lost interest in them. This is was was considered a hero in the novel at that time. What is considered to be a hero at different times in history?
Interesting. I had no idea that women had it so bad back then! Makes you wonder how she even managed to get her novel published. :)
ReplyDeleteEvery culture has their own "heroes" and even those have changed over time. Right now, here in America, a hero is someone handsome, morally correct, strong and usually has some sort of supernatural power (as evidenced by the recent flux of superhero movies). haha
Others give hero status to certain occupations (doctors, firemen, policemen, etc). Some heroes receive public recognition, but their are other heralded only by those they've saved.
i think a hero is anyone who stands against adversity and overwhelming odds, which could mean saving the city from a super villain, or even going against societal norms.
ReplyDeleteWe can look at figures like King Leonidus, or Joan of Arc, who went stood up for their freedom in the face if certain death, or others like Martin Luther King Jr. or Susan B. Anthony who faced a different kind of foe.
So I would say the different struggles society is facing at a time in history make determine who their heroes are.