If you're looking for a book to read, The Tale of Genji is one worth reaching for, even if you've read it before, and even if you've read it more than once. But why is this novel so important, and how ...

Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese widow on the fringes of nobility, wrote what is considered the world’s first novel, in the eleventh century. It’s an epic of seduction that follows the romantic intrigues ...