Enjoying the Playful Poetry in First Person Singular

To continue from the previous post (sorry for the three-month interlude!), here are seven translations of a short fragment of the poem "Outfielders' Butts" from the Murakami story, "Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection." I want to thank fellow Murakami translators Elbrich Fennema, Ursula Gräfe, and Mette Holm for sending these to me!

The original poem again, to refresh your memory:  

    広島カープのシェーン　のお尻の形は
    どことなく考え深く、知性的だった。
    省察的だった、というべきだろうか。
    人々は彼をシェーンブラムと
    フルネームで呼ぶべきだった。
    たとえそのお尻に敬意を表するためだけでも。

Here is the English translation by Philip Gabriel again:
    The butt of the Hiroshima Carp's player Shane 
    Is deeply thoughtful, cerebral.
    Reflective, you might say. 
    People really should have called him by his full name,
    Scheinblum.
    If for nothing else, then to show respect for that one-of-
                                                                                      a-kind butt. 

Below is the German version by Ursula Gräfe, who said that she tried to give the lines a bit of a rhythm:
        Shane von den Hiroshima Carps
        hat ein Gesäß, so klug und weise,
        besinnlich könnte man es heißen.
        Scheinblum sollte man ihn rufen,
        Denn das ist sein wahrer Name.
        Und wenn nur als Hommage an seinen Hintern.

This is the Dutch version by Elbrich Fennema:                                                            
        De vorm van Shane's kont - van de Hiroshima Carps
        is diepzinnig en intellectueel.
        Misschien is bedachtzaam het goede woord?
        mensen zouden hem bij zijn volle naam
        moeten noemen: Scheinblum.
        Al was het maar uit eerbied voor zijn kont. 

And the Danish version by Mette Holm:
        Og Shane fra Hiroshima Carps 
        har tænksomme og intellektuelle baller.
        Ja, de er ligefrem meditative.
        Folk burde kalde ham Scheinblum,
        når det nu er hans navn,
        om ikke andet så for at vise hans baller respekt.

 

The two pictures below allow us to see Shane's butt as it might have appeared to Murakami (on the left in the left picture). 

 

 

Next follows the Norwegian version by Ika Kaminka:                                                            

        Baken til Shane på Hiroshima Carps
        har en form som er ettertenksom, klok og
        sjelegranskende, for å si det sånn.
        Folk burde bruke hele navnet hans,z
        Scheinblum,
        og vise respekt for denne rumpa.

 

and the Italian by Antonietta Pastore:

        La forma del sedere di Shein degli Hiroshima Carp
        Pensandoci bene
        Haqualcosa di intelligente.
        Anzi, dovrei dire di riflessivo.
        Avrebbero dovuto chiamarlo Scheinblum
        Col suo nome intero.                
        Anche solo per mostrare rispetto al suo sedere.

 

The last version is my own, Polish version:  

        Kształt tyłka Shane’a z Hiroshima Carps 

        jest jakby rozważny i inteligentny. 

        Może należałoby powiedzieć – refleksyjny. 

        Ludzie powinni byli używać 

        jego pełnego nazwiska – Scheinblum,

        choćby po to, by okazać szacunek temu tyłkowi.

 

One final image of "baseball butts" to bring up the rear!

 

 On another topic, I have missed the Korean translation, which appeared in November 2020 from Munhak Tongne. The translator is Hong Ŭnju. Usually the Korean version is the one appearing first after the publication of the book, but this time my Polish one beat if by a few days. Not that it is a race - I am just always impressed by how fast the Korean translators, editors, and publishers manage to get Murakami translatiions to Korean readers. Here is the very pretty cover (with no monkey! - or is it a monkey in the top left corner?). 

 

 

Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova, or Not Just Another Monkey

The American version of First Person Singular came out today from Knopf in Philip Gabriel's translation. When I saw the book, I thought to myself, "Oh, another monkey," remembering the many European cover designs featuring monkeys that I shared in a previous post. I had seen the cover on Amazon before, but holding the book in my hands, I discovered that there are in fact even more images of monkeys on the back cover and inside.

 

Having checked that the book was designed by the very creative Chip Kidd, I was a little disappointed until I took off the dust jacket. This is what is underneath:

This is in fact the jacket of the non-existent album Murakami made up in the story "Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova!" I love this cover - and I loved the story. It turns out I was not the only person who loved it. 

The Polish translation inspired composer and producer Miłosz Konarski (picured left) to create a new album with saxophonist Wojtek Rejdych (pictured below). The album has the same title and was released today, on the day the English version of the book came out. You can read more about the album or stream it at: https://charlieparkerplaysbossanova.com/ (which is where the pictures came from).

What I probably enjoyed most when translating this collection were the poems from the story "The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection." These funny, clever compositions were supposedly written by the narrator - Murakami - when watching games played by his favorite team, the Yakult Swallows. The poem I found most amusing was titled "Outfielders' Butt," and I was thinking that maybe some baseball-related element would make it to the cover. 

The poem includes some great lines, like these: 

        The butt of the Hiroshima Carp's player Shane
        Is deeply thoughtful, cerebral.
        Reflective, you might say.
        People really should have called him by his full name,
        Scheinblum.
        If for nothing else, then to show respect for that one-of-a-kind butt.

For the next post, I will try to collect translations of these lines into a few languages. 

Incidentally, it seems that Murakami is not the only one pondering on outfielders' butts during boring games. A simple Google search under "baseball butts" produces quite a lot of results with ranking lists of "best butts in baseball," "10 best butts in baseball," or "major league baseball best butts." I didn't know baseball butts were a thing...  .

Murakami Monkeys in Europe: First Person Singular out in a Few European Countries

Murakami's latest short story collection, First Person Singular, has been published in several European countries. The new translations include German, Norwegian, Italian, Dutch, and Danish versions.

The first two, which appeared in January, were the German translation by Ursula Gräfe (Dumont) and the Norwegian version by Ika Kaminka (Pax). The Norwegian cover seems to be inspired by the story of the Shinagawa monkey.

  

 

 

March brought three more translations, all of them featuring monkeys on their covers, albeit each quite different in terms of color and style. The Italian version came out on March 9. The translator is Antonietta Pastore and the publisher Einaudi. The Danish translation appeared just a few days ago, on March 26, in Mette Holm's translation from Klim. Mette says that the first reviews are good.

 

 

The translator of the Dutch version, Elbrich Fennema (Atlas Contact), decided to promote the book herself; with the help of a grant from the Dutch Literature Foundation, she produced a book trailer. The purpose was to explore new ways of reaching readers during the pandemic. Here is the link to the trailer on Vimeo and the front and back covers of the Dutch version. 

 

The Vimeo page also gives a link to Elbrich's webpage, where one can find information about her writing, translations, etc. as well as her reactions to reviews (they can be read using Google Translate!).

The English version, translated by Philip Gabriel, is due to come out on April 6.