The Grandson of Prince Genji

The grandson of Prince Genji functions as the closest figure the novel offers to a central character, although he does not occupy the structural role of a conventional protagonist. The narration follows his movements more consistently than it follows anyone else, but it never treats his experiences as the primary focus of the story. His presence is woven into a narrative field that also includes the dog dragging itself toward the ginkgo tree, the slow shaping of timber over centuries, the drift of pollen, and a minute of birdsong witnessed by no one. His life is one element among many, not the axis around which the novel revolves. This refusal to privilege his perspective establishes him as part of a larger order rather than the subject of a personal journey that commands the reader’s attention.

His alignment with the natural world is central...