PAPER Topics

Start of Term Paper
Genji Monogatari is the greatest single work in Japanese literature. It provides us with an informative look into the court life of the Heian Period, as well as give us a wealth of vivid characterizations along the way to developing the lineage ....

Middle of Term Paper
... are those events that give the basis for the escapades of Genji, but it is the more subtle use of nature that gives us the backdrop for the story (and, incidentally, the basis for a paper). The first way that Murasaki employs nature is in her precise characterizations of the dozens of main and minor players in Genji. From the season in which the character appears to the clothes that they wear to the portion of Genji's palace that they inhabit, without a more than casual appreciation to nature in reading this novel a great chunk of the literary value is lost. "[Murasaki} is not content simply to describe the charms of the different seaso ...