The Tale of Genji: chapters 40-41 and the subject of death

1/ Murasaki first becomes ill when she’s 37—the dangerous age for a woman in Japanese culture (or Heian culture?). It is Fujitsubo’s age when she dies. 
From the illness Murasaki never completely recovers, and dies in chapter 40—according to Royall Tyler’s helpful notes, she’s at the age of 43 and Genji’s 51. 
It is a great chapter and her death comes like a devastating blow. 

“Genji recollected that dawn all those years ago when the Commander’s mother died, and he realized that he must still have been himself then, since he clearly remembered a bright moon, whereas this evening he was engulfed in darkness.” (Ch.40) 

The Commander refers to Yugiri and his mother is Aoi, Genji’s first wife. 
I love the way Murasaki Shikibu writes about death because she doesn’t fear it, and because she doesn’t use death as a way of getting rid of a character or moving the plot forward. She writes about dying and death, about grief, and about the lasting impact it has on other people, especially the main character—Genji. He’s only a child when he loses his mother, but in a way he seeks a substitute in Fujitsubo (and later seeks a substitute for Fujitsubo in other women, such as Murasaki). 
After his father’s death, he realises the vanity of all things.
Aoi’s death, in Genji’s mind, is always linked to some guilt because they’re estranged before her death, and it colours his perception, gives him fears, whenever there’s a pregnancy and childbirth. The horror never completely leaves him. 
He also carries within him lots of guilt after Fujitsubo’s death, but it is a different kind of guilt—the guilt of bearing a secret and lying to everyone, the guilt of betraying his father the Emperor, the guilt of disrupting the hierarchy, the guilt of making Fujitsubo suffer.  
The Rokujo Haven’s death affects him in a different way—part of him feels bad for the neglect and fulfils his promise with her by taking care of her daughter and helping her move forward (she becomes an Empress), while the other part is forever angry at her and fearful of her because an incarnation of her bitterness and jealousy has killed Aoi. This is why years later he brings it up in a conversation with Murasaki, but the spirit of the Rokujo Haven reappears and attacks her.
All the various deaths in the story affect Genji in different ways. Then after Murasaki’s death Genji is never the same—it’s like the Genji who survives her is only a shell. Everything becomes meaningless. 

2/ The sense of the uncertainty and fragility of life pervades The Tale of Genji. 

3/ There are 2 things that get my attention surrounding Murasaki’s death. 
The first thing is that for many years, before the illness, Murasaki wants to renounce the world and become a nun, but Genji never allows her and she cannot just defy him and go ahead with it. As she reflects in chapter 39, “there is nothing so pitifully confined and constricted a woman”. She dies without fulfilling her wishes.  
The second thing is that she becomes objectified, even in death. A woman at Heian court cannot go out in daylight and is rarely seen—she’s usually hidden behind curtains and screens, and communicates with men through another person. Speaking in her own voice is a step closer to intimacy. 
Genji’s son Yugiri only gets a glimpse of Murasaki once, during a storm, a glimpse he never forgets. So after her death, whilst everyone else is devastated, he tries to get another look at her. There is something slightly ironic about the situation, and it is so tragic.   

4/ For years I’ve thought Tolstoy’s the greatest at writing about death. Now I think Murasaki Shikibu is comparable, though different. 
I cannot write about how great these 2 chapters are. The Tale of Genji is among the greatest novels I’ve ever read—it may even be the greatest, but I probably shouldn’t get so excited.

5/ It is interesting that Murasaki Shikibu chooses not to write about Genji’s death. Following chapter 41, all we have is a chapter called “Vanished into the Clouds”. A blank chapter. 
The story of Genji now ends. The next chapters are about life without Genji.