The Tale of Genji , written a thousand years ago in Japan, is a great masterpiece of world literature.

The Tale of Genji, written a thousand years ago in Japan, is a great masterpiece of world literature. Although not the oldest surviving example of prose fiction, it may well be the first novel ever written.  In spite of the distance of time and place for the setting of this novel, what elements of it strike you as real and familiar in terms of the characters?  How are their feelings, motives, and experiences recognizable to us as fellow humans?