Feminine Writing of Murasaki Shikibu and in The Tale of Genji
Abstract
Murasaki Shikibu is one of the most famous court lady writers, or Feminine Hand, in Heian Japan. Her work The Tale of Genji, usually interpreted as revealing women’s sufferings, needs an alternative explanation with a new eye. That is, a feminist voice must exist at that time, as well as unconscious feminist awareness. They have already begun to explore love, desire, and pleasure for themselves. They were even eager to express themselves in their language system, and, most importantly, they were successful in doing it. Helené Cixous’s Éricture Féminine theory from “The Laugh of Medusa” provides a new lens to look through Murasaki’s era and the Genji. Indeed, Murasaki can be regarded as a medieval feminist who voiced her thoughts on gender inequality in a new language system. The characters she created are individualized rather than generalized. Murasaki, a representative of many other female writers, heralded an era of female writing and entered the canon of world literature: use her body to write and never stop exploring women’s own galaxy.
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