I think I say this about almost every month, but March went by really fast! This is the second last day of the rereading challenge, but given that I’m only halfway through Genji, I’ll probably still continue to reread it in April and beyond.

I’ve only finished one more chapter of Genji and we’re back to Genji doing things that do not gel with my modern sensibilities. It’s basically his disdain for the fact that a woman ages* and the fact that he tries to gaslight Murasaki into not being jealous (sends loves notes because a woman says no to him but then says it’s nothing serious). Genji possibly being threatened by a ghost (or maybe his guilty conscience?) actually feels like a consequence to his actions. Which it is, actually, because it’s the ghost of Fujitsubo** telling him she can’t rest in peace because of their affair.

I think that because this re-read is moving at a much slower pace than the first time I read it, I have a lot more time to disapprove of Genji’s actions and ask myself: why am I reading this?

*There is a princess that used to be on good terms with his father that he visits. He doesn’t have any romantic liaisons with her, but he was dismayed that she had visibly aged.

**Reminder, his stepmother. And also the reason he kidnaps Murasaki as a child – because she resembled Fujitsubo. I’m really not selling anyone on the merits of Genji as a compelling reason to read The Tale of Genji, am I?

On the other hand, I’ve made good progress on Descendant of the Crane and I managed to find a solution for a WIP problem that had me stumped (implementing the solution, on the other hand, is going to take some time).