Narrative Cultures in the Mirror (original) (raw)

The leading question in this paper is: How can comparative studies escape the self-referential mirages of looking-glass scholarship? The essay examines Claude Lévi-Strauss's interpretation of The Tale of Genji (an eleventh-century Japanese literary masterpiece), then draws a parallel between Lévi-Strauss’s argument and Alice’s famous remark that Looking-Glass House reflects her own home. My point, expressed in terms of the looking-glass metaphor, is that gazing at alien narratives through the prism of home-made typologies amounts to seeing yourself in the mirror; whereas engaging in symbolic translation across cultures is tantamount to going through the mirror and following the twists of metaphorical thought. I examine The Tale of Genji in this perspective.