In 1976 Edward Seidensticker, an academic already celebrated for his translations of Yasunari Kawabata, a Nobel prize-winning novelist, brought out a new version. Torn between admiration for Waley's narrative verve and horror at the liberties he had taken with the text, Seidensticker produced a "Genji" that was doggedly faithful but a little lacking in grace.

It was left to Royall Tyler, whose charming and urbane "Genji" came out in 2001, to chart the course between the exuberance and the exactitude of his two predecessors. Perhaps because he lives in the Australian bush, Mr Tyler was willing to recognise that readers can lose their way in the novel's vastness and so provides a handy kit of orientation tools: chapter-by-chapter lists of the characters and footnotes to explain the imagery of the poems dotted throughout the text.

"The Tale of Genji" rewards perseverance, but just as young Genji flits from one mistress to the next, so the reader can choose between the three English versions of the story. Effervescent Waley, prim Seidensticker or suave Tyler-who will you take to bed with you tonight?

© The Economist Newspaper Limited 2008