ONE OF THE OLDEST NOVELS IN THE WORLD FROM A THOUSAND YEARS AGO

The Kish Tablet from Sumer, which dates back 5,500 years to the Uruk period (c. 3500–3200 BCE), is widely regarded as the earliest written document in the world. Needless to say, since its proto-cuneiform beginnings, the written word has undergone a significant transformation, evolving into verse poetry, epics, tales, and much more. However, novels as we know them only came later, and they are very different because of their length, fictional plots, and use of prose instead of verse. The Tale of Genji is generally accepted as the world's first novel, yet it can be challenging to be absolutely certain.

The Tale of Genji was written almost 1,000 years ago by Murasaki Shikibu, who was a lady-in-waiting at the Japanese court during the height of the Heian period (794–1185). The 1,300-page document, which was most recently translated into English, chronicles the life and several amorous endeavours of the charming and endearing Prince Genji in 11th-century Japan.

Melissa McCormick, a Harvard professor of Japanese art and culture, told the BBC that Murasaki Shikibu was writing in a literary style that was, at the time, rather disparaging. "[It is a] literary masterpiece."

In fact, Murasaki penned the text in kana, a novel phonetic script that was popular at the period and frequently linked with women's writing. Additionally, Kana represented a significant break from the court's esteemed literature and intellectual language, both of which were written in Chinese letters, or kanji, and usually required specialised study.

John T. Carpenter, a curator of Japanese art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, noted that women of the era were able to express themselves effectively because they were writing in the vernacular. "In actuality, they employed a writing technique known as onna-de, which translates to 'woman's hand."

The Tale of Genji was criticised for being a work of fiction, a literary genre that was not nearly as well-known or regarded as it is now, in addition to its use of kana.

“Fiction was on the lower rung of the scales, of the genre hierarchies,” McCormick noted. "However, she created such a remarkable literary masterpiece that it had to be treated seriously." Additionally, the individuals in the book provide what McCormick perceives as an unparalleled feeling of "interiority." McCormick remarked, "You had characters that truly leapt off the page for the first time." "That was accomplished through a style of writing that puts you in the characters' heads." 

These characters continue to "jump off the page" centuries later. Perhaps it is therefore not surprising that The Tale of Genji is frequently praised as one of the most exquisite, poignant, and captivating works of narrative fiction in history.