Re: translating
Colin (colin@cpink.demon.co.uk)
Mon, 18 Oct 1999 05:18:32 +0100
In message <v04210113b42fa1c5012e@roughdraft.org>, Tim O'Connor
<tim@roughdraft.org> writes
>At 10:05 AM -0400 on 10/16/1999, Will wrote:
>The Japanese writer Haruki Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
>End of the World; The Elephant Vanishes; Dance, Dance, Dance; A Wild
>Sheep Chase) was the translator of (this is from memory, so nobody
>shoot me) Raymond Chandler, John Irving, and, perhaps, Kafka, into
>Japanese. This experience in translation DEFINITELY flavors his own
>fiction, where there are elements of dark humor, paranoia, and
>hard-boiled detective tones. Something along the feeling in the
>movie Blade Runner.
>
>I can't speak about the quality of his translation, though it is
>considered quite good, but his fiction is wonderful.
>
>--tim
Yes. Haruki Murakami is a terrific writer, one of my favourites.
Though he can be a bit long winded at times. His stories are so
intriguing and often manage to be both very funny and tragic at the same
time.
According to an article in the New Yorker he is sometimes criticised in
Japan for being too Western.
Another great contemporary Japanese novelist is the delightfully named
Banana Yoshimoto. Ever read anything by her? I think she's great, and
the name alone should recommend her to anyone on this list, but apart
from that there is a certain Salingeresque quality to her characters who
seem to be searching for an uncertain something in their lives.
Her best books are N.P., Lizard and Kitchen.
--
Colin