Harvard professor curates classic ‘Genji’ exhibit at the Met
NEW YORK — Melissa McCormick has been teaching “The Tale of Genji,” one of the world’s first novels, for nearly 20 years, enthralling undergraduates with its unlikely female author: A lady-in-waiting writing about romance, family, court life, and politics in 11th-century Japan. Now, McCormick has expanded her classroom to include visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where her co-curated exhibition on the classic story opened on March 5. “The one common response to ‘Genji’ is awe,” said McCormick, professor of Japanese art and culture and self-described “Genji geek,” reflecting on “how a mere court lady could have written a 1,300-page prose tale interspersed with 795 poems in 54 chapters. One of the most remarkable things about it is how it has this uncanny way of reading like a modern novel.” McCormick conceived the exhibition “The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated” and proposed it to Japanese art curator John T....