Briefly summarize Genji's theory of why storytellers write. What forces compel the novelist or fiction writer to tell a story? Do you think that this is a plausible theory?
Why does Genji believe that "it is no part of the storyteller's craft to describe only what is good or beautiful"? What does he see as the connection between literature and morality?
What is Genji's point in comparing romance novels to the discourses of the Buddha? What is similar about the two kinds of works? How does he use the authority of scripture to legitimize fictional narratives?
Buddhism is distinguished from the older branch, Theravada.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
How do the values toward art in The Tale of Genji compare to those found in Basho's Narrow Road to the Interior (p. 300), one of the other great works in the Japanese tradition? Does Basho's decision to set his haiku in a narrative have anything to do with the kind of narrative persuasion that Genji discusses here?
Compare Lady Murasaki's view of the purpose of art to that of Leo Tolstoy (p. 265). Would Genji agree that the best forms of art and literature are those that can be most easily understood by everyone?
Contrast the dialogue between Genji and Tamakatsura with the Socratic dialogue
in Plato's Gorgias (p. 166). Does Genji lead his interlocutor to a point of view in the same way that Socrates does?
WRITING ABOUT THE TEXT
Analyze the connection between truth and fiction in this excerpt from The Tale of Genji. Analyze the positions of both Genji and Tamakatsura and explain which view you find most compelling and why.
Defend modern science fiction or fantasy fiction against Genji's claim that literature should only take place in "mundane life and not in some fairyland beyond our human ken." Argue that a wildly speculative work of literature can still have value. Support your arguments with concrete examples.
Compare or contrast a work of historical nonfiction with a work of historical fiction that covers the same events. Use this comparison to evaluate Genji's claim that fiction can sometimes express historical truths in a way that historical texts cannot.
johannes vermeer
Study of a Young Woman
[CIRCA 1665-67]
JOHANNES VERMEER (1632-1675) is now recognized as one of the most important figures of the Dutch Golden Age—a period of intense artistic activity that included the work of such notable figures as Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Jan de Bray. Still, he was only modestly successful in his lifetime, and virtually unknown in the centuries thereafter. Vermeer's artistic output lagged behind that of his contemporaries, which caused him to be overlooked until the nineteenth century. Today, only thirty-four existing paintings have been definitively credited to Vermeer, but among these are such universally acclaimed masterpieces as The Milkmaid, The Geographer, and Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Study of a Young Woman is often grouped with Girl with a Pearl Earring, which may have originally been its companion piece. Both paintings are examples of a Dutch form of painting called the "tronie." A tronie, derived from the Dutch word for "face," is a painting of the head and face of a figure thought to be unusual or striking. Unlike formal portraits, which they resemble, tronies were not commissioned or sold to their subjects. The models for these paintings were usually anonymous and, hence, unknown to us today.
Several elements of Study of a Young Woman have puzzled art critics for centuries. For one thing, the subject is not conventionally beautiful, which has caused some scholars to speculate that the work might have been commissioned as a portrait or that it could even have been Vermeer's own daughter. Another puzzling fact for some critics is that this painting lacks the kind of background for which Vermeer was well known. Still, both of these elements are consistent with the tronie form, which sought to go beyond the physical beauty of its model and explore aspects of character not always visible through artistic representation.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (where the painting is currently housed) explains Vermeer's motivations thus: "Although a live model must have been employed, the artist's goal was not portraiture but a study of character and expression. Dutch pictures of this type (tronies) often feature curious costumes and artistic effects, such as the fall of light on fine fabrics, soft skin, or a pearl earring." For Vermeer, then, it can be said that the most important task of the artist is to use his or her medium to create something beautiful through art, rather than simply to reproduce conventional forms of beauty.
johannes vermeer
Study of a Young Woman, circa 1665-67 (oil on canvas).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / Wikimedia Commons and Art Resource. See p.C-4 in the color insert for a full-color reproduction of this image.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
Do you agree with the critics who say that the subject of Study of a Young Woman is not "conventionally beautiful"? Why or why not?
The primary function of the tronie was to capture an interesting or unique human face. Do you believe that Study of a Young Woman succeeds in this regard?
Another function of the tronie form was to display interesting or exotic costumes, such as the scarf that the young woman is wearing. How does this costuming influence your interpretation of the picture?
How does the dark background affect the way that you understand the picture? What effect does Vermeer create by removing any recognizable forms from the background of the painting?
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Compare Study of a Young Woman with Lisa Yuskavage's Babie I (p. 286). Explore how both paintings use and subvert traditional ideas of female attractiveness.
Are there elements of Study of a Young Woman that Edmund Burke (p. 256) might consider to be "sublime"? Think especially about the way that darkness and light are configured in the painting.
Compare the underlying idea of beauty in the painting to that in Alice Walker's feminist essay "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self" (p. 271). How are the two conceptions of beauty the same? How are they different?
WRITING ABOUT THE TEXT
Analyze the way that light and darkness are used in Study of a Young Woman. Look at the backgrounds of other Vermeer paintings and make an argument about why he makes the background of this painting dark without any perceivable objects in the background.
Some art historians believe that the model in Study of a Young Woman is the same figure from Girl with a Pearl Earring and that the first painting is an earlier version of the second. Find a copy of Girl with a Pearl Earring online and argue for or against this hypothesis.
Use Study of a Young Woman and two or three other artworks in Reading the World—such as Babie I (p. 286), Liberty Leading the People (p. 494), or Athena in The Oresteia (p. 148)—to make an argument about the way feminine beauty is depicted in art.
edmund burke
from The Sublime and Beautiful
[1757]
EDMUND BURKE (1 729-1 797) was an Irish philosopher and politician who served in the British Parliament during the eighteenth century. In the 1770s, he gained notoriety in Great Britain for his public support of the American colonies in their conflict with England. In later years, he became even better known for his opposition to the French Revolution, which he outlined in his most famous book, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). In Reflections, Burke argued that social change, when necessary, should occur gradually in a way that does not destroy the fabric of a society—an argument that has become central to modern conservatism in Europe and the United States.