And the winner is...

It's that time of year, Murakami doesn't win the Nobel. But it always stirs up a lot of talk.

Asymtote have an interview with Murakami translator Jay Rubin:
http://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2014/10/09/in-conversation-with-jay-rubin/

The New Yorker has a Murakami short story translated by Ted Goossen:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/13/scheherazade-3

And Granta have a piece written by Yukiko Motoya, translated by Asa Yoneda:
http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/Why-I-Can-No-Longer-Look-at-a-Picnic-Blanket-Without-Laughing

I've just finished Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, and I've been thinking recently about the lack of critical reviews of translated works. There is usually a single line that mentions 'this is a translation' for good or bad, and nothing more is said. But a decent review of the work as a translation can be hard to do without falling down to nagging about word choice. I was pleased to see translator Philip Gabriel keeping some Japanese specific terms such as kotatsu, but bento was jarringly translated as boxed lunch, and it was also quite strange to see distances measured in miles and not kilometres. But how much do such word choices effect the reading experience for the majority of Murakami readers? Not much. One section of the novel deals with the use of the masculine pronoun ore and how that influences the relationship between Tazaki and Aka. Gabriel did quite well to explain the usage within the context of story. I enjoyed restraint of Colorless TsukuruTazaki much more than the sea of unnecessary text that was 1Q84.

I also recently read All You Need Is Kill, the acclaimed sci-fi novel behind the latest Tom Cruise movie, Edge of Tomorrow. The underlying storyline was quite interesting, but I was quite turned off by the immature characterisation and juvenile conversations. It felt more like Japanese high school 'light novel' drama pulp, unsatisfying as a sci-fi novel. It is rating very well over at Goodreads (4+), but if anyone can tell me why, I'd really like to know.

The Guest Cat - Takashi Hiraide

Last week, Asymptote posted an excerpt from the soon to be released translation of the novella The Guest Cat (猫の客) by Takashi Hiraide (平出隆), translated by Eric Selland.

http://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2014/01/06/the-guest-cat-by-takashi-hiraide/

It's being published by New Directions on January 28th. You can get links to buy the book from the New Direction website: http://ndbooks.com/book/the-guest-cat

Samsa In Love, Murakami

The New Yorker has a new Hauki Murakami (村上春樹) short story, 'Samsa In Love', translated by Ted Goosen. You can check out the story here:
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2013/10/28/131028fi_fiction_murakami

Asymtote also has a review up on their blog:
http://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2013/11/08/murakami-samsa-in-love/

Asymptote + Three Percent

As I find myself drawn toward translation theory, specifically Japanese literature and it's interaction with English, there are a few websites that I've begun to thoroughly enjoy.

Asymtote is a quarterly journal that focuses on contemporary world literature and translation. I stumbled across the interview with David Mitchell discussing his translation of the Naoki Higashida's the Reason I Jump. I've mentioned this work in an early post, and it's definitely worth checking out for anyone with an interest in Autism.

But what brought me back was the translation of selected text from Ramo Nakajima by Sayuri Okamoto and Sim Yee Chang. And for those interested in digging a bit deeper, Asymtote also provides the original Japanese. Whilst I'm not familiar with Ramo Nakajima, this translation has definitely whet my appetite for his work, and the Naoki Award winning The Night of Human Models has been added to my to-read list. Asymtote is a quarterly journal. The next edition should be available in October.

The other site recently added to my bookmarks is Three Percent, a website from the University of Rochester for readers, editors and translators interested in international literature. It features reviews of a wide range of literature and translations, and is a great place to search if you are looking for great world literature.