The new short story anthology by Haruki Murakami, titled Ichinishō Tansū (First Person Singular), published by Bungei Shunjū, appeared on July 18 in Japan. Note the clever cover design with the same motif repeated on the obi.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, seven of the eight stories have appeared previously in Bunkakukai (four of them are available in English). The last story in the anthology, however, is new -- and the collection bears its title. One wonders if the title might be a reference to John Updike's series of essays about his boyhood and youth published in Assorted Prose. They have also appeared in Japanese translation in 1977 (see the image below).
Speaking of John Updike, there is a charming super short story
by Murakami called "Jon Apudaiku o yomu tame no sairyō no basho" (The
Best Place for Reading John Updike), published in 1986 in Zōkōjō no happiiendo (The Happy End of the Elephant Factory).
The new Murakami stories are all written in the first person singular; many are reminiscences from his childhood or college years. Interestingly enough, seven of the eight are written by Boku (first person singular pronoun, used mostly by males), and one is written by Watashi (the most universal first person singular pronoun). Also, six of the seven Bokus use kanji to write "boku," while the seventh uses hiragana. One imagines that this difference between pronouns is something that will most likely get lost in translation.
Another potential challenge for translators is that two stories ("Ishi no makura ni" (On a Stone Pillow) and "Yakuruto Suwarōzu shishū" (The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection) include poems - in the first one we find a number of poems in the classical Japanese form of tanka; in the second - free verse).
As I mentioned in an earlier post, seven of the eight stories have appeared previously in Bunkakukai (four of them are available in English). The last story in the anthology, however, is new -- and the collection bears its title. One wonders if the title might be a reference to John Updike's series of essays about his boyhood and youth published in Assorted Prose. They have also appeared in Japanese translation in 1977 (see the image below).
Speaking of John Updike, there is a charming super short story
by Murakami called "Jon Apudaiku o yomu tame no sairyō no basho" (The
Best Place for Reading John Updike), published in 1986 in Zōkōjō no happiiendo (The Happy End of the Elephant Factory). The new Murakami stories are all written in the first person singular; many are reminiscences from his childhood or college years. Interestingly enough, seven of the eight are written by Boku (first person singular pronoun, used mostly by males), and one is written by Watashi (the most universal first person singular pronoun). Also, six of the seven Bokus use kanji to write "boku," while the seventh uses hiragana. One imagines that this difference between pronouns is something that will most likely get lost in translation.
Another potential challenge for translators is that two stories ("Ishi no makura ni" (On a Stone Pillow) and "Yakuruto Suwarōzu shishū" (The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection) include poems - in the first one we find a number of poems in the classical Japanese form of tanka; in the second - free verse).
No comments:
Post a Comment