"Translation as Detour"

Being that Japanese Literature is one of my major predilections, I was thrilled to receive an invitation to the May 10th lecture given by Harvard University Professor of Japanese Literature Emeritus, and former Dawg (Husky), Jay Rubin.



If you read Haruki Murakami, you have likely read some of his translation work. He is essentially Haruki Murakami's go-to translator. If he's busy with another project, the work will go to someone else, but he's the first one to receive an offer. The English editions of Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman were all translated, masterfully, by him.

He also translates the works of Modernist classics such as Natsume Soseki and Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Now, I don't want to deviate too much with fanboy-ish endorsements, but I have things to say. First, if you're looking for beautiful prose and stories with feeling, look no further than the work of Natsume Soseki. Second, if you're a fan of short stories, you simply must give Ryunosuke Akutagawa a whirl. Have you seen the Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon? It's based on one of Akutagawa's stories (it's adapted from his adaptation of an ancient Japanese tale), and I would highly recommend checking out the collection of the same name (Rashomon: And Seventeen Other Stories).



Back on track with Professor Rubin, his lecture was titled "Translation as Detour: from Genji to 1Q84," and it was a great opportunity to nerd out. Professor Rubin focused much of his lecture on different translations of The Tale of Genji (which is a tome as historically important as it is interesting) and his own work translating the works of Murakami.

If I were to recount to you exactly what was said, it would be the superiority of the Royall Tyler translation of The Tale of Genji, and the interesting difficulties inherent in translating from Japanese to English.


Professor Rubin shared one anecdote that involved his current project translating the first two volumes of 1Q84 for Haruki Murakami. He assured us that this isn't a spoiler, but some of the characters see two moons in the sky. These folks are in the minority, as everyone else sees a single moon. But in Japanese, there is no distinction between plural and singular nouns. So the struggle, for him, has become sorting out how many moons each character sees. It occurs to me that only a certain kind of person will think that's funny, or even remotely interesting, but I'm absolutely of that variety.

At any rate, it was a wonderful lecture, and Professor Rubin effortlessly established himself as both intelligent and funny. Meanwhile, those of us in attendance ate it up, and gleaned what we could about his future projects.

So, for those of you interested in the process of translation, exploring the worlds of Japanese language or literature, I would recommend perusing his catalog. I'm currently thumbing through Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You, and hoping it manages to live up to its bold claim.

-Griffin

Morphic Resonance?

“Morphic resonance" is a term coined by Rupert Sheldrake in his 1981 book A New Science of Life. He uses the expression to refer to what he thinks is "the basis of memory in nature....the idea of mysterious telepathy-type interconnections between organisms and of collective memories within species." from http://www.skepdic.com/, authored by Robert T. Carroll.

You may be wondering why I am wandering into the field of morphic resonance when I'm writing about three fantasy novels that I am about to recommend. Well when I start to notice a pattern, and then the pattern repeats itself, I like to have some notion about where all of that came from.

Protagonist Joanne Walker, in Urban Shaman (an earlier staff pick by Mechio), has been working in the Seattle Police department motor pool, as a mechanic, until she sees something bizarre and stirring from her window seat on her return flight from Ireland. Once the plane has landed, she wastes no time and follows the scene--incredible though it may seem--which leads her and you to the discovery of her true, previously unknown, full identity.

Joanne is an amazon of sorts, as tall as the chief of police, and that proves to be a plus and a minus while he vacillates on whether to keep her assigned to the brutal cases that have been popping up all of sudden. And then there's a pesky, trickster coyote that keeps showing up with riddles that would puzzle the sphinx. And, of course, more adventures to come in the books that follow Joanne's story.

And then there's Mercy Thompson, in the first book that Patricia Briggs features her in, Moon Called. Would you believe that she's a walker, a skin-walker, and a mechanic to boot? She's made it a little further in the world than Joanne, because she owns her own garage ... sold to her by a gremlin. There's more than your standard fare of vampires, werewolves, and what have yous. But our kick-a.. heroine can take care of herself ... and rescue some others along the way.

Another similarity between Mercy and Joanne is the ancient native blood that seems to run through their veins, making them warrior-queens. And, yes, they're both mechanics who don't seem to get too much grease under their fingernails. And while Joanne had a lonely abandoned childhood, Mercy Thompson grew up with a werewolf clan, for her own safety, but do remember that she is not one herself, she is special ...

And then last, but certainly not least is Charles de Lint, urban fantasy writer extraodinaire, who wrote about Altagracia (her friends call her Grace) Quintero, in yet another female mechanic story, The Mystery of Grace, with a twist. She worked at Sanchez Motor Works customizing hot rods, and here's the twist, until she died. But that is nowhere near the end of the line for this also heroic character. Alice Hoffman wrote, on the jacket cover: "Charles de Lint is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend---all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint's vivid, original world. No one does it better.” And my earlier favorite book of his is the wonderful Someplace to be Flying ... check it out too! So, there you have it, three great writers all coming up with the idea of their heroines being mechanically inclined and gifted. It's fun to read about those ideas since I have absolutely no idea what's under the hood of my boyfriend's car, nor do I really want to. But I was definitely entertained by these three different women and their stories. So do read on.

And, if you want to read more about Rupert Sheldrake's work, check out his fun nonfiction piece, Dogs that Know When their Owners are Coming Home. There's some cool stuff in there, too!

Namaste, Jan

aka Calendar Girl, Pet Gallery Coordinator, Kids Books, Cookbooks, etc.

Come Visit Our New Cookbook Space

I have come to love the new Cookbook space. Love it! It feels like there’s room for all those delectable books to s-t-r-e-t-c-h out and sing the siren song of food. And it’s almost like I need to shelve those books closer to my break time because I keep getting hunger pangs … but if that’s the worst of it, then I won’t complain.

New Cookbooks of Note:

*I am still thrilled to continue to showcase the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook by Keller. I would like to see everything in that book reduced (yeah, like a sauce … ) to DVD format, because the images literally jump off the page.





*Recipes from an Italian Summer- sign me up! Can you imagine the thrill of spending a summer in Italy? I’d love it. But instead, still happily, I get to look at the beauteous cover art of this book.




*Trader Joe cookbooks- with one already as a staff pick, you can’t go wrong. Besides, with my two person household, TJ’s knows how to do
smaller-sized meals and keep them delicious and affordable.


*Plus there are some new entertainment books to consider
for spring and summer. What budget you ask? Well, a girl can dream of lavish entertainment for family & friends, right?! Just got in Lulu Powers Food to Flowers, lots of good ideas … including how to do manage your houseguests' breakfast.

So, come visit and stay a spell. There’s that comfy (what would you call it?) bench, and lots and lots of cool bargain books to ingest! And remember, even though I consider myself to be an apprentice in the culinary arts, I am ever eager to be here to help you find just that right cookbook.

Jan

Cookbooks, Calendars, Pet Gallery, etc.