Genji's living arrangement then, with Murasaki would have seemed like a story-book romance in many respects. She is much his inferior, socially and politically and their domestic co-habitation was nearly unheard of. Not surprising in a society which allows men to move so freely and to have sexual relationships with so many women, the dominating feeling the women possess is jealousy. Lady Rokujo is the prime example of just how destructive jealousy can be. Her jealousy is responsible for the death of Aoi and the destruction of Murasaki.
Poetry is connected with love, sexual attraction and the divine.
He ends this chapter with a discussion of the problems of translation. Bowring ends with a bibliography, including almost fifty books, articles, and dissertations, for anyone who wants to do further study of Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji. The Splendor of Longing in the Tale of Genji. Princeton UP, 1987. Kathleen Collins Norma Field includes an invaluable cast of characters including their various names and their relationships to the other characters at the beginning of her book.