Just Read Lauren Groff’s article on TofG in THE ATLANTIC and it inspired me to feed this most non-Western of novels, as well as probably the first novel ever written, to our favorite story wizard.
“give me a full and detailed analysis of the story form of the attached document, the classic novel The Tale of Genji”
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Your goal, restated
You’d like a full Dramatica Storyform analysis of the attached document—the classic novel The Tale of Genji—with clear throughlines, thematic sources of conflict, act-level signposts, character functions, and notes on ambiguities and alternative viable Storyforms.
Plan for this analysis
Clarify how Dramatica fits a multi-episode classic like Genji and define a workable “lens”
Propose the most defensible single Storyform for the “Genji proper” arc, with a structured rationale
Provide throughline-by-throughline breakdowns: Domain → Concern → Issue → Problem (and key dynamics)
Map signposts to well-known chapters/episodes for evidence and texture
Identify core archetypal functions in the cast and how “hand-offs” operate
Note ambiguities and offer an alternate Storyform (for the Uji arc), plus adaptation tips
Note: Page numbers vary by edition; I’ll cite by canonical chapter titles and major episodes so your edition remains usable. If you need precise page citations for a specific translation, tell me the edition and I’ll tailor references.
First, a framing note on story unity
Murasaki Shikibu’s masterpiece spans multiple generations and tonal registers. From a Dramatica perspective, it most naturally separates into:
A primary “Genji proper” macro-arc (early/middle: Kiritsubo → Aoi → Suma/Akashi → return and consolidation)
A second-generation “Uji” macro-arc (Kaoru & Niō)
Each of these can carry its own Storyform. Below I present:
A cohesive, single Storyform for “Genji proper,” which most readers experience as the emotional and thematic core.
An alternative viable Storyform for the Uji arc.
Storyform A: “Genji proper” (Kiritsubo through Genji’s high point and late-life melancholy)
High-level dynamics (proposed)
Story Driver: Decisions (courtly choices and private resolves trigger actions)
Story Limit: Options (suitors, alliances, placements, sanctuaries exhaust)
Story Outcome: Success (Genji ultimately re-establishes himself and fulfills courtly roles)
Story Judgment: Bad (despite outward success, Genji’s inner state remains unfulfilled, tinged with regret)
Main Character Approach: Be-er (manages inner state/role performance more than brute action)
Problem-Solving Style: Holistic (balances relations, context, and aesthetics)
Main Character Growth: Stop (the pressure is to stop indulgence/transgression)
Main Character Resolve: Steadfast (he remains essentially the same kind of person; the world adapts or wears down)
Domain assignments (rationale)
OS Domain: Psychology (Internal Process) — the court is defined by performance, manipulation, schemes, ritualized roles, and reputations.
MC Domain: Mind (Fixed Internal State) — Genji’s fixed obsessions, ideals, and refined aesthetic sensibility drive his conflict.
IC Domain: Universe (Fixed External State) — the “You” perspective frequently arrives through those locked into immutable statuses (e.g., Fujitsubo as Empress/stepmother; later, Murasaki’s position), exerting pressure by what cannot change.
RS Domain: Physics (External Activity) — Genji’s key relationships are negotiated through concrete activities: abductions, clandestine visits, arranged placements, exiles, and returns.
These four domains form one of the valid Dramatica configurations.
Courtly and romantic choices precipitate events: Genji’s decision to pursue forbidden love; imperial and ministerial placements; exiles decided, then enacted.
Story Limit
Options
The cast continually cycles through available houses, alliances, sanctuaries, and permissible matches until none remain.
Story Outcome
Success
Genji returns from exile, consolidates power and esteem, and attains high courtly standing—goal conditions are met at the OS level.
Story Judgment
Bad
The emotional residue is one of dissatisfaction and loss (e.g., Murasaki’s decline and death; irreparable guilt and longing).
OS Domain
Psychology
The locus of conflict is in decorum, presentation, manipulation, and social role-playing.
OS Concern (Story Goal)
Being
The story strives to maintain/perform roles befitting rank and propriety (festivals, carriages, titles, pairings).
OS Issue
Desire vs. Thought
Desire fuels overreach and scandal; Thought tries to rein in propriety.
OS Problem
Temptation
Yielding to allure (forbidden romances) drives OS trouble.
OS Solution
Conscience
Adherence to duty/propriety resolves pressure at the social level.
OS Symptom
Pursuit
Everyone chases alliances, lovers, promotions.
OS Response
Avoid
Avoidance/retreat is used to manage scandal (seclusion, exile).
OS Benchmark
Conceptualizing
Progress is tracked by how plans/schemes take shape (placements, festivals, marriage strategies).
OS Catalyst
Desire
Longing accelerates courtly entanglements.
OS Inhibitor
Thought
Calculated caution slows or dampens escalations.
MC Domain
Mind
Genji’s fixed ideals and internal fixations create conflict.
MC Concern
Subconscious
Deep desires and longings (mother-substitute ideal; aesthetic craving) dominate.
MC Issue
Dream vs. Hope
Genji’s idealized Dream often eclipses sober Hope.
MC Problem
Temptation
He yields to temptations that keep cycles repeating.
MC Solution
Conscience
Inner restraint would soothe his personal disquiet.
MC Benchmark
Conscious
His “progress” is measured by reflective awareness and ethical self-recognition.
IC Domain
Universe
The IC’s pressure comes from fixed stations—immutability that challenges Genji.
IC Concern
Present
The unchangeable “now” of station (Empress/stepmother; ward; noblewoman) constrains possibilities.
IC Issue
Work/Attract/Repel/Attempt (via Present)
The IC’s presence draws/repels Genji within the immediate conditions of rank and setting.
RS Domain
Physics
Relationships play out via concrete activities (elopements, visits, exiles, placements).
RS Concern
Obtaining
The relationship moves through pursuit, possession, loss.
RS Issue
Approach/Attitude/Self-Interest/Selflessness
Negotiating how to pursue and “hold” a relationship under constraints.
RS Problem
Temptation
The relationship falters when temptation compromises boundaries.
RS Solution
Conscience
Relational harmony would require restraint and duty.
Notes:
Goal–Consequence pairing: With OS Goal = Being, the Consequence aligns with Becoming. Failure to maintain one’s role risks unwanted transformations (disgrace, exile, loss of status).
This selection coheres thematically: Temptation/Conscience threads the four perspectives, and Desire/Thought modulates the court’s psychology.
Below, I map Signposts and illustrative episodes. Exact act order is model-dependent; here I present a thematically consistent and widely accepted progression for clarity.
Objective Story (Psychology) — Signposts
SP1: Conceiving — schemes and notions of matches, promotions, and romantic pursuits emerge
Kiritsubo: factions conceive strategies around imperial favor; alignments form.
Hahakigi (“Broom Tree”): men debate ideal women, “conceiving” archetypes that shape behavior.
SP2: Being — the performance of roles and ritual propriety
Aoi: the carriages at the Kamo festival dramatize status performance; the rivalry with Rokujō plays out in public decorum.
Suma: the “role” of exile; Genji performs humility, maintaining dignity.
SP3: Becoming — transformations in status and identity
Akashi: Genji becomes father to a daughter of destined significance; his network of positions deepens.
Return chapters: shifts in prestige solidify his transformed courtly identity.
SP4: Conceptualizing — solidifying institutions and frameworks
Building Genji’s Rokujo-in and arranging households; formalizing placements for offspring and wards, systematizing his “world.”
Why this fits: the court’s problems flow from how people conceive and enact social roles—and how those roles transform under pressure.
Main Character (Mind) — Signposts
SP1: Memory — formative loss and imprint
Kiritsubo: Genji’s mother’s fate imprints a longing that echoes in his future attachments (search for the “mother/ideal”).
SP2: Preconscious — impulses and reflexive responses
Yūgao: sudden attraction, impulsive liaison, and its tragic aftermath expose his ungoverned appetites.
SP3: Subconscious — deep longings and appetite
Murasaki: his long project to sculpt the ideal companion; longing saturates the middle movement.
SP4: Conscious — reflective awareness and remorse
Late chapters: meditation on impermanence; regret over harms to Aoi, Rokujō, Murasaki; sporadic resolves that arrive, perhaps, too late.
Influence Character (Universe) — Signposts
Note: The IC perspective is “handed off,” mainly embodied by Fujitsubo early, then (at times) by Murasaki and others whose fixed status exerts pressure.
SP1: Present — Fujitsubo’s current rank and status (Empress/stepmother) makes Genji’s desire taboo in the here-and-now.
SP2: Progress — her changing position at court (pregnancy, enthronement dynamics) tightens constraints.
SP3: Future — the potential fallout (succession, scandal) looms over Genji’s choices.
SP4: Past — the unalterable history (a child’s true parentage; past transgression) locks in consequences.
The RS centers on the concrete doings of Genji’s defining relationship; the perspective can also transfer between key bonds (Fujitsubo ⇄ Murasaki), while keeping the relational “activity” as source of conflict.
SP1: Doing — clandestine meetings, letters, courtly visits underway (Fujitsubo; then Murasaki tutelage begins as an active project).
SP2: Obtaining — pursuit and “possession” of the beloved; marriage, household incorporation, offspring.
SP3: Learning — the relationship’s painful lessons (jealousies, illnesses, the limits of control).
SP4: Understanding — heartbreaking clarity about what the relationship can and cannot be (late-life insight; Murasaki’s decline; renunciation themes).
Character functions (archetypal gravities and hand-offs)
Archetypes in Genji are fluid, but functional gravities recur:
Protagonist: Genji (pursues the OS Goal of Being—sustaining roles, prestige, and decorum)
Antagonist: Often personified by Kokiden and her faction, and at times Lady Rokujō (jealousy spirit episodes); they work against Genji’s role-consolidation
Guardian: Murasaki (offers stability, wisdom, and grace), also certain senior courtiers who counsel prudence
Contagonist: Lady Rokujō (temptation/obstruction through jealousy and “possession”), sometimes To no Chūjō (complicating rival)
Reason: Calm court advisors, and Genji’s own “public mask” when he’s constrained
Emotion: Genji’s passionate impulses; also Yūgao and other attachments which inflame desire
Skeptic: To no Chūjō in rivalry mode; skeptical courtiers challenging Genji’s maneuvers
Sidekick: Koremitsu (aid and loyalty), trusted attendants
The IC perspective primarily rides on Fujitsubo (immutable rank) and later on Murasaki (her station as wife, then monastic turn)—both “Universe” embodiments that challenge Genji to reconsider.
Why this Storyform “reads” as Success/Bad
Success: Genji regains rank after exile, curates a brilliant household, secures placements for offspring, and becomes the hub of taste and legitimacy—he “wins” the OS Goal (Being).
Judgment: Bad: The narrative’s late tone is elegiac; inner conflicts persist (loss, guilt, impermanence), culminating in a personal verdict of dissatisfaction despite social triumph.
Alternative viable Storyform B: The Uji arc (Kaoru & Niō)
For readers who treat the Uji chapters as a second macro-Storyform:
OS Domain: Mind (fixed attitudes, especially around lineage, propriety, sectarian flavor)
MC Domain: Psychology (Kaoru’s self-image, inner process, and the identity knot of scent/lineage)
IC Domain: Physics (Niō’s energetic pursuit of relationships; action-forward influence)
RS Domain: Universe (the fixed constraints of rank, prior promises, and familial entanglements)
Story Dynamics:
Driver: Decisions (arrangements and vows force actions)
Limit: Options (romantic and familial configurations exhaust)
Outcome: Failure (neither man secures the “right” union without cost; goals collapse)
Judgment: Bad (melancholic irresolution)
MC Growth: Start (Kaoru needs to initiate authenticity rather than merely avoid)
MC Resolve: Steadfast or Change (depending on reading: Kaoru often remains trapped in his complex “being perceived as pure,” suggesting Steadfast; a Change reading is also defendable if one reads final renunciations as true shifts)
This alternate framing respects the tonal and focal break of the Uji books.
Adaptation notes while preserving Storyform A
Keep OS Concern = Being prominent: festivals, processions, house-building, and marriage choreography should be shown as conflicts of role-performance, not mere spectacle.
Sustain the Temptation/Conscience spine: whenever a character yields to allure, show immediate and cascading costs; give Conscience genuine resisting power.
Maintain IC as Universe via hand-offs: stage Fujitsubo’s immovable station early; later, let Murasaki’s position and eventual withdrawal bear the same “fixed-state” weight on Genji.
Preserve Success/Bad: deliver Genji’s external triumph clearly while letting the personal verdict land as elegiac, not redemptive.
Ambiguities and alternate readings
OS Domain: Some may argue for Physics (so many concrete doings) with RS in Psychology. That can work, but “performing roles” and reputational “being” as the story’s central social tension more strongly anchor OS to Psychology.
MC Resolve: A Change reading is defendable if one emphasizes late renunciations as genuine alteration; the more traditional read finds him Steadfast—his essence persists while circumstances and others change.
Problem Element: One can swap Temptation/Pursuit emphasis; the text supports both. I choose Temptation as cleanly thematic and coherent across throughlines.
What we’ve completed vs. the plan
Proposed and justified a unified Storyform for “Genji proper”
Mapped throughlines, concerns, issues, problems/solutions, and dynamics
Provided act-level signposts with chapter anchors
Outlined archetypal functions and IC hand-offs
Offered a plausible alternative for the Uji arc and adaptation guidance
Validation: The selections form a consistent Dramatica configuration and read well against the novel’s thematic fabric. If you want edition-specific page citations, tell me your translation; I’ll align examples precisely.
How would you like to proceed?
Do you prefer the “Genji proper” Storyform A as your working model, or should we refine toward the Uji-focused Storyform B?
If you confirm Storyform A, I can drill down next into Story Requirements/Prerequisites/Costs/Dividends and Benchmarks with scene-level mapping, and then finalize a Storyform “save” for your project.
Scene/setting notes: garden salons and poetry gatherings (mask vs. feeling), marriage negotiations and examinations (duty vs. desire), funerals and omens (impermanence).
The Makioka Sisters — inferred
Premise: On the eve of war, a once-prestigious Osaka family struggles to secure marriages and preserve dignity as modernity encroaches.
Likely storyform (inferred):
OS Domain/Concern: Universe / Future (marriages, reputation, the house’s continuity)
MC Domain/Concern: Mind / Worry (Sachiko balancing loyalty and pragmatism) or Psychology / Becoming (Taeko’s modern defiance) [MC focus varies by reading]
IC Domain/Concern: Psychology / Being (sisters’ differing “models” of womanhood influence each other)
RS Domain/Concern: Mind / Subconscious (sisterly bonds vs. self-fulfillment)
Premise: Passion and principle collide in imperial Russian society, dooming one romance while another matures in hard-won authenticity.
Likely storyform (inferred):
OS Domain/Concern: Universe / Future (marriages, inheritance, reputation across the social web)
MC Domain/Concern: Mind / Subconscious (Anna’s desire and jealousy fixations)
IC Domain/Concern: Psychology / Becoming (Vronsky as catalyst for remaking life)
RS Domain/Concern: Mind / Subconscious (Anna–Vronsky eros, from intoxicant to trap)
Driver/Limit/Outcome/Judgment: Decision / Options / Failure / Bad (contrasted with Levin–Kitty’s Good)
Core Problem/Solution: Temptation / Conscience or Uncontrolled / Control (inferred)
Scene/setting notes: balls, train stations, salons (public gaze), legal/clerical barriers, provincial farm life as a counter-theme.
Notes
Only Pride and Prejudice above is verified from our database; the others are carefully inferred based on Dramatica principles and the works’ thematic engines.
Several of these lean Universe/Future for the OS (status, marriages, house survival) and Mind/Subconscious for the RS (longing, jealousy, devotion)—a Genji-adjacent pattern.
If you want a stricter Manipulation/Psychology OS (scheming, identity performance), Tristan and Isolde and select Ise episodes fit that well.
Would you like full Dramatica charts (Domains, Concerns, Issues, Problems/Solutions, Drivers, Limits, Signposts, Benchmarks, etc.) for any of these? If so, name the title(s) and I’ll generate a complete breakdown.
Wondering if you had a follow-up for this. I uploaded what I assumed to be the full text (781 pages?) and had Narrova analyze it - one shot, it came up with this:
very cool. I got very different results when I was unable to upload and it used what it found on the web (which is what you see above). in that case it gave me two story forms, the Genji storyform and the Uji storyform. Once I was able to upload and, at the same time, the new story builder and agentic work was in place, my results were different. (haven’t uploaded that yet and I may have erased the thread).
I will look at this again this week, it’s of much interest. Question on the table: are Narravo results repeatable and deterministic, in any degree? What’s the likelihood of getting a very different answer at a different time?
Its been our experience that, while there may be slight differences in exact numbers or percentages, that they trend to be repeatable–even though they are not deterministic.
For example, if you upload the script for The Nightmare Before Christmas, you’ll find that Narrova consistently scores the Main Character and Objective Story Throughlines high, while the Influence Character and Relationship Story score lower - with its main identifying issue being the almost complete lack of a Relationship Story Throughline (which is, in fact, true).
For something like The Tale of Genji I would say that in both cases it identified two separate storyforms, which is encouraging. We might be using different texts which could account for differences. But if you were to upload your same text in a different conversation, yet ask it the same exact question, perhaps with scores, it will likely produce the same results.
