The Tale of Genji

Written around 1000 CE by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting at the imperial court, The Tale of Genji is widely called the world's first novel. Its characters rarely say what they mean. They communicate through poetry, the color and texture of their writing paper, the flowers they arrange by season, and gestures so subtle an outsider would miss them entirely.

A culture this tuned to subtle signals produces fiction of startling depth. Genji's characters feel jealousy, longing, regret, and desire with a psychological richness that European novels would not match for roughly six centuries. Murasaki was mapping the inner life of her characters while most of the world's storytelling still ran on plot and event.