The eleventh-century masterpiece The Tale of Genji casts a long shadow across the literary terrain of the Heian period (794-1185). It has dominated critical and popular reception of Heian literary production and become the definitive expression of the aesthetics, poetics, and politics of life in the Heian court.

But the brilliance of Genji has eclipsed the works of later Heian authors, who have since been displaced from the canon and relegated to critical obscurity.

Charo B. D'Etcheverry calls for a reevaluation of late Heian fiction by shedding new light upon this undervalued body of work. D'Etcheverry examines three representative texts--The Tale of Sagoromo, The Tale of the Hamamatsu Middle Counselor, and Nezame at Night--as legitimate heirs to the literary legacy of Genji and as valuable indexes to the literary tastes and readerly expectations that evolved over the Heian period.

Balancing careful analyses of plot, character, and motif with keen insights into the cultural and political milieu of the late Heian period, D'Etcheverry argues that we should read such works not as mere derivatives of a canonical text, but as dynamic fictional commentaries and variations upon the tropes and subplots that continue to resonate with readers of Genji.

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Contents
	List of Figures	xi
	Note on Conventions	xiii
	Introduction: Lights Out in Heian	1
		Saying Goodbye to Genji 6
		Genji and "Late" Heian 13
		Overview of the Study 20
1	The Woman's Court: Theory and Practice	23
		Introducing the Rear Court 25
		Revisiting the Salon 29
		Residence and the Rear Court 34
		The Rear Court: A Case Study 39
		Poetry, Fiction, and the Rear Court 55
2	The Tale of Sagoromo and Midranks Romance	58
		The Tale of Sagoromo: A Brief History 60
		Asukai's Nurse and the Question of Class 62
		Enter the Middle Ranks 67
		The Asukai Subplot and The Tale of Genji 79
		The Rear Court and the Nurse 85
3	The Tale of Hamamatsu and Family Substitutes	88
		The Tale of Hamamatsu: A Brief History 91
		Prelude to a Substitute: Chunagon, Taisho no Kimi, 
			and the Third Prince 96
		The Mother of All Substitutes: Chunagon and 
			the Chinese Consort 106
		Yoshinohime and the Consort's "Niece" 116
		Daini's Daughter and the Sarashina Diarist 122
4	Nezame at Night and the Exile Plot	124
		Nezame at Night: A (Very) Brief History 128
		Genji and the Bamboo Cutter 132
		Nezame in Exile 137
		Conclusions 149
	Postscript: Murasaki's Fan Fiction?	153
	Appendix: Plot Summaries	159
		The Tale of Sagoromo 159
		The Tale of the Hamamatsu Middle Counselor 164
		Nezame at Night 168
Reference Matter
	Notes	175
	Works Cited	195
	Glossary	207
	Index	211