The Tale of Genji: chapters 18-20

1/ As Genji rises in court, he builds places for his women nearby. Naturally their references change.
- Murasaki: Genji’s wife (after Aoi). Fujitsubo’s niece and daughter of His Highness of War. Resembles Fujitsubo. Often referred to as the lady of Genji’s west wing or Genji’s darling. Associated with the colour violet. 
- Hanachirusato: sister of the former Reikeiden Consort. Associated with the village of falling flowers. She is now called the lady in east pavilion. 
- The Akashi Novice’s daughter (Akashi no Kimi): Genji meets her while in exile. She and Genji are second cousins, as his late mother is daughter of the Akashi Novice’s uncle. They have a daughter together, known as Akashi no Himegini. She is now known as the lady at Oi.
- Suetsumuhana: also called the red-nosed woman. The Hitachi Prince’s daughter. Associated with the safflower because of its dye. If I understood correctly, in chapter 17, Genji moved her to somewhere near him, but I’m not sure what it’s called.
[Update on 14/6: Suetsumuhana, in chapter 21, is called the lady in the west wing of the east pavilion.]
The storyline about the Akashi Novice’s daughter is particularly interesting, because she’s not a complete outsider (she and Genji are related, and she is not a peasant, say), but she’s also not from court. Her father used to have relatively high rank but renounced the world and moved to Akashi, so she has been growing up in a seaside town. On the one hand, she is accomplished, and in many ways not inferior to ladies at court. On the other hand, she is not equal to many of them in terms of rank. 
The Tale of Genji depicts a world in which a woman’s fate is determined by rank, specifically her father’s rank, and women must be dependent on men. As Royall Tyler explains in the introduction, Suetsumuhana is a princess because she’s the daughter of the Hitachi Prince, but Aoi isn’t a princess though her mother is one (the Emperor’s sister) because Aoi’s father (the Minister of the Left) is a commoner. He goes on to say: 

“The personally daunting Aoi is of very high standing, and her father is exceptionally powerful. Her weight in her world is incomparably greater than that of the pathetic Suetsumuhana, whose father is in any case dead. Nevertheless, Suetsumuhana carries an aura of imperial quality that has not come down to Aoi.” 

To go back to the Akashi Novice’s daughter, imagine that she never met Genji—she has been brought up to be much higher and more accomplished than the men she may meet in the area, but unfortunately far away from men of high rank. That is why, before meeting Genji, she thought that she would either throw herself into the sea or become a nun. That is also why she resists him at the beginning, for fear of getting hurt. The scenes at the beginning of their relationship are very good.  
When Genji wants his women to move into buildings nearby, she refuses, because of pride and fear. She only moves closer, to Oi—nearer to him, but still away from court. That is her way of protecting herself, and also her way of keeping herself in Genji’s high esteem, as she’s showing that she has self-respect and makes her own choice. 
However, the situation is different when their daughter starts to grow, and she is forced to give her up to live with Genji and Murasaki, because that’s for the best. 
Chapter 18 and the beginning of chapter 19 are particularly moving. This is an entirely different time, an alien culture, but Murasaki Shikibu lets us see that human beings have always been the same—the mother’s feelings are all recognisable. 

2/ In the little conflicts between Genji and Murasaki when he goes to other women, does the author disapprove of him for ignoring her signs of displeasure and making light of her feelings, or does she portray Murasaki as unreasonably jealous, despite knowing that other women cannot compare to her in rank and importance, and Genji is noble for being fair to all his women? 
The case is probably both—Murasaki Shikibu doesn’t have to, and probably doesn’t, side with anybody. She lets us see that Genji does try to take care of all his women and is honest to her about what he’s doing, before words reach her from others. She shows us the suffering of women when forgotten by men. But she also lets us see that Murasaki can’t help feeling the way she feels, and he sometimes dishonestly dismisses other women as unimportant just to reassure her, or gets up to leave her in unhappiness instead of trying to resolve the problem between them. 
Chapter 19 is great, because Murasaki, as she takes care of Genji’s daughter, empathises with the suffering and loneliness of the lady at Oi, and no longer holds any grudge against her. 

3/ In Vietnamese people often say: theo tình tình phớt, phớt tình tình theo. 
It probably comes from the French saying: Suis l'amour, l'amour fuit, fuis l'amour, l'amour suit. 
It’s easy to tell what kinds of women attract Genji. 
Older, Genji still chases after Asagao (daughter of His Late Highness of Ceremonial, associated with bluebells) in chapter 20—the more she resists, the more he chases her. 

4/ There are many deaths in The Tale of Genji—3 in chapter 19. 
Before, I have always seen Tolstoy as the best writer about dying and death, but Murasaki Shikibu also handles the subject in a very moving and haunting way that I can’t quite explain. Someone else would be better at expressing it than I am, but Murasaki Shikibu and Tolstoy write about death in a way that I don’t remember seeing anywhere else in literature.  
She also makes me think about things differently, and makes me want to spend more time with nature.