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Murasaki Shikibu[mOO´´rAsA´kE shE´´kEbOO´] Pronunciation Key, c.978–1031?, Japanese novelist, court figure at the height of the Heian period (795–1185). Known also as Lady Murasaki, she is celebrated as the author of the romantic novel Genji-Monogatari [tale of Genji], one of the first great works of fiction to be written in Japanese. It concerns the life of Prince Genji and his descendants and is a subtle and thorough delineation of a complex society.
See her diary translated by R. Bowring (1982); modern translations of Genji by E. G. Seidensticker (1978) and R. Tyler (2001).
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