Style and Narrative in Translations

Futabatei Shimei (1864-1909) is widely regarded as the founder of the modern Japanese novel

Auteur

Hiroko Cockerill began her career as a teacher of Japanese language and literature in Japan. She then spent five years studying Russian language and literature in Tokyo and Moscow, before immigrating to Australia, where she has lived for the past 17 years. She is currently a research adviser and teacher at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

Texte du rabat

Futabatei Shimei (1864-1909) is widely regarded as the founder of the modern Japanese novel

Résumé
Futabatei Shimei (1864-1909) is widely regarded as the founder of the modern Japanese novel. His novel Floating Clouds (1887-1889) was written in a colloquial narrative style that was unprecedented in Japanese literature, as was its negative hero. Futabatei was also a pioneer translator of Russian literature, translating works by Turgenev, Gogol, Tolstoy, Gorky and others - his translations had an enormous impact (perhaps even greater than his novels) on the development of Japanese literature. In this groundbreaking work, Hiroko Cockerill analyses the development of Futabatei's translation style and the influence of his work as a translator on his own writing. She takes us on a journey through Russian and Japanese literature, throwing light on the development of Japanese literary language, particularly in its use of verb forms to convey notions of tense and aspect that were embedded in European languages. Cockerill finds that Futabatei developed not one, but two distinctive styles, based on the influences of Turgenev and Gogol. While the influence of his translations from Turgenev was immediate and far-reaching, his more Gogolian translations are fascinating in their own right, and contemporary translators would do well to revisit them.

Contenu

Introduction

System for Indicating Tense and Aspect of Verbs

Chapter 1: The Significance of The Tryst in Japanese Translation History

Chapter 2: The Development of Futabatei's Translation Style

Recognition of Aspect in the Japanese Language

Futabatei's Use of "-ta" Form Verbs

Futabatei's Translation of Past Imperfective and Past Perfective Verbs

Chapter 3: Exploring the First-Person Narrative

Katakoi [One-sided Love]

Yudaya-jin [The Jew]

Chapter 4: A Third-person Narrative: The Portrait

Chapter 5: Third-Person Narratives: Floating Weed and The Mismatch: The Restoration of "-ta" Expressing the Past Tense

Ukikusa [Floating Weed]

Kusare-en [The Mismatch]

Chapter 6: Futabatei's Translation Style and the Styles of Koyo and Ryuro

Chapter 7: Futabatei's Third Period of Translation Activity and In His Image

Tsutsu o makura [A Rifle for a Pillow]

Yokka-kan [Four Days]

Fusagi no mushi [The Depression Bug]

Mukashi no hito [Olden Day People]

Sono omokage [In His Image] (Futabatei's second original work)

Chapter 8: 1907: Futabatei's Final Year of Literary Activity

Ni kyojin [Two Madmen]

Kyojin nikki [A Madman's Diary]

Futabatei's Final Original Work Heibon [Mediocrity]

Natsume Soseki's Kofu [The Miner] and Shimazaki Toson's Haru [Spring]

Conclusion: Re-evaluating Futabatei's Translations and their Significance for Contemporary Literature

Appendix : A List of Futabatei Shimei's Translations and Original Works