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Having read Murakami first in English then in Japanese then years later again in Japanese after living in the culture each was a different but worthwhile experi

Having read Murakami first in English then in Japanese then years later again in Japanese after living in the culture each was a different but worthwhile experience. The last was in some ways least exciting because I realized that characters I had thought of as fascinatingly original or quirky just referred to tropes or stereotypes in the broader culture. I don’t think any literature really gives an accurate sense of another culture unless you have other base knowledge. I’m interested in Russia somewhat but I read Dostoveysky almost as occuring in some universal European setting, I don’t read for the details of Russian culture.

grzm 5y ago
Something I enjoyed about reading Murakami both in Japanese and in translation is that there are a couple of translations of "Norwegian Wood". Seeing how two translators (Alfred Birnbaum and Jay Rubin) handled the translation into English gave me different views of how one could approach Japanese from an English perspective (my native tongue).
- cgag 5y ago
  I feel like I once heard of Jay Rubin say something like, if you don't know japanese, you've never read a word of Murakami, you've read Rubin. I suppose it's obvious but it did make me stop and think about how distant japanese actually is from English. I can't actually find any reference to him saying this though.
_mhr_ 5y ago
This was my experience when I watched and rewatched the anime film Spirited Away over the years. It is a fantastic film, to be sure, but I hadn't realized how much he borrowed from the existing culture of Japan until I learned more about Japanese religion and culture generally. It wasn't wholly invented myth, as it appeared to me as an American child.
noduerme 5y ago
Murakami's a really interesting one when it comes to translation. He wrote his first novel in English, despite not speaking English very well, and then translated it back to Japanese for publication. I really enjoyed the linked essay, but I think the playfulness with which e.g. Murakami can pick up English as a brush in a toolbox raises a lot of interesting questions about whether translation guilt is warranted. Doesn't appropriation work both ways? Would a bakery attack make any sense in a Japanese culture without European bread? And speaking of the idea of denatured business English... so many of Murakami's images, sounds and references get their charge by playing with the mixing of western and Japanese culture, both the corporate and the artistic/literary/musical sides of each. I see it as similar to what French impressionism and cuisine did with their Japanese counterparts, an expansion and exchange of culture without one necessarily eroding the other.

grzm 5y ago

Something I enjoyed about reading Murakami both in Japanese and in translation is that there are a couple of translations of "Norwegian Wood". Seeing how two translators (Alfred Birnbaum and Jay Rubin) handled the translation into English gave me different views of how one could approach Japanese from an English perspective (my native tongue).

cgag 5y ago
I feel like I once heard of Jay Rubin say something like, if you don't know japanese, you've never read a word of Murakami, you've read Rubin. I suppose it's obvious but it did make me stop and think about how distant japanese actually is from English. I can't actually find any reference to him saying this though.

_mhr_ 5y ago

This was my experience when I watched and rewatched the anime film Spirited Away over the years. It is a fantastic film, to be sure, but I hadn't realized how much he borrowed from the existing culture of Japan until I learned more about Japanese religion and culture generally. It wasn't wholly invented myth, as it appeared to me as an American child.

noduerme 5y ago

Murakami's a really interesting one when it comes to translation. He wrote his first novel in English, despite not speaking English very well, and then translated it back to Japanese for publication. I really enjoyed the linked essay, but I think the playfulness with which e.g. Murakami can pick up English as a brush in a toolbox raises a lot of interesting questions about whether translation guilt is warranted. Doesn't appropriation work both ways? Would a bakery attack make any sense in a Japanese culture without European bread? And speaking of the idea of denatured business English... so many of Murakami's images, sounds and references get their charge by playing with the mixing of western and Japanese culture, both the corporate and the artistic/literary/musical sides of each. I see it as similar to what French impressionism and cuisine did with their Japanese counterparts, an expansion and exchange of culture without one necessarily eroding the other.