Abstract
The oldest known Tale of Genji manuscripts are diverse and they were created centuries after the life of their alleged author, Murasaki Shikibu. No original text has been transmitted to us, yet new Genji translations are often marketed as higher in fidelity to Murasaki’s writing than predecessors. In this case study, Chozick examines how Genji retranslations have been carried out and sold as increasingly authoritative without a single, definitive source text. Such complexities are widely discounted in scholarship as well as in promotional materials for new Genji translations. As a corrective, this study draws attention to how translator agency and creativity intersect with textual and historical circumstances, while focusing on two influential Genji retranslations: the second Japanese Genji translation by Junichiro Tanizaki (Murasaki Shikibu: Junichirō shinyaku Genji monogatari (The Junichiro New Translation of The Tale of Genji), 12 vols. Chūōkōronsha, Tokyo, 1951–54) along with Edward Seidensticker’s unabridged English edition (Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1976). In exploring the dynamic role of translators in the context of Genji, this study introduces the notion of the “hypervisible” translator.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Translations and any infelicities in them are mine unless specified.
References
Asahi Shimbun (1950) ‘Genji monogatari o kanyaku ni: Tanizaki shi ga futatabi shippitsu (Towards a Complete Translation of The Tale of Genji: Tanizaki at It Again)’ (Morning edn) June 30: 2.
Barthes, R. (1977) ‘The Death of the Author’, tr. S. Heath, in Image / Music / Text, New York: Hill and Wang, pp. 142–7.
Bassnett, S. (2011) ‘From Cultural Turn to Translational Turn: A Transnational Journey’, in S. Helgesson (ed.) Literature, Geography, Translation: Studies in World Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 67–80.
Butterfield, F. (1974) ‘“Tale of Genji” Emerging Anew’, The New York Times October 14: 6.
Casanova, P. (2010) ‘Consecration and Accumulation of Literary Capital: Translation as Unequal Exchange’, tr. S. Brownlie, in M. Baker (ed.) Critical Readings in Translation Studies, New York: Routledge, pp. 285–303.
Cather, K. (2012) The Art of Censorship in Postwar Japan, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Chesterman, A. (1997) Memes of Translation: The Spread of Ideas in Translation Theory, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Chesterman, A. (2004) ‘Hypotheses about Translation Universals’, in G. Hansen, K. Malmkjær and D. Gile (eds) Claims, Changes and Challenges in Translation Studies, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 1–13.
Chozick, M. (2016) ‘Eating Murasaki Shikibu: Scriptworlds, Reverse-Importation, and The Tale of Genji’, Journal of World Literature 1 (2): 259–274.
Chūōkōronsha advertisement (1951) Yomiuri Shimbun (Yomiuri newspaper) (Morning edn) June 3: 1.
Clements, R. (2011) ‘Suematsu Kenchō and the First English Translation of Genji monogatari: Translation, Tactics, and the “Women’s Question”’, Japan Forum 23 (11): 25–47.
Dimitriu, R. (2009) ‘Translators’ Prefaces as Documentary Sources for Translation Studies’, Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 17 (3): 193–206.
Emmerich, M. (2013) The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization, and World Literature, New York: Columbia University Pres.
Freedman, A. (2016) ‘Kawabata Yasunari’s The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa and Stories of Prewar Tokyo’, in R. Hutchinson, L. Morton and L. Douglas (eds) Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature, New York: Routledge, pp. 42–54.
Genette, G. (1997) Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation, tr. J. Lewin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji) (1951) dir. K. Yoshimura, Daiei Film.
Gojira (Godzilla) (1954) dir. I. Honda, Toho.
Hartama-Heinonen, R. (1995) ‘Translators’ Prefaces—A Key to the Translation?’, Papers in Translation Studies Prague 4: 33–42.
Henitiuk, V. (2012) ‘Optical Illusions? Literary Translation as a Refractive Process’, in R. Wilson and L. Gerber (eds) Creative Constraints: Translation and Authorship, Clayton: Monash University Press, pp. 3–20.
Howe, L. and S. Stickings (eds) (1991) The Splendor of Genji: Heian to Heisei, Tokyo: Aska Printing.
Huffman, J. (2013) Modern Japan: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism, New York: Routledge.
Ibuki K. and G. Rowley (2009) ‘“The Tanizaki Genji”: Inception, Process, and Afterthoughts’, in L. Bienati and B. Ruperti (eds) The Grand Old Man and the Great Tradition: Essays on Tanizaki Jun’ichirō in Honor of Adriana Boscaro, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, pp. 25–52.
Igarashi, Y. (2012) Bodies of Memory: Narratives of War in Postwar Japanese Culture, 1945–1970, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kawabata, Y. (1968) ‘Utsukushii nihon no watashi (Japan the Beautiful and Myself)’ Nobel Lecture, December 12. (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1968/kawabata-lecture-j.html) [accessed 14/09/2015].
Knuth, R. (2003) Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the Twentieth Century, Santa Barbara: Praeger.
McLeod, D. (1978) ‘Some Approaches to the Tale of Genji’, Literature East & West 18 (2–4): 301–313.
Mizukami, T, and S. Chiba (2008) Tanizaki sensei no shokan: aru shuppansha shachō e no tegami o yomu (Tanizaki Sensei’s Correspondences: Reading Letters to the President of a Publishing Company), Tokyo: Chūōkōronshinsha.
Moretti, F. (2013) Distance Reading, New York: Vero.
Murakami, T. (2005) ‘Earth in My Window’, tr. L. Hoaglund, in T. Murakami: Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture, New York and New Haven: The Japan Society and Yale University Press, pp. 98–149.
Shūkan Asahi (ed.) (1988) Nedanshi nenpyō: Meiji Taishō Shōwa (A Chronology of Price in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods), Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha.
Ozaki, Y. (2001) The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in Japan, tr. F. Hara, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Pym, A. (1998) Method in Translation History, Manchester: St Jerome.
Rowley, G. G. (1997) ‘Literary Canon and National Identity: The Tale of Genji in Meiji Japan’, Japan Forum 9 (1): 1–15.
Pym, A. (2009) ‘Humanizing Translation History’, Hermes—Journal of Language and Communicate Studies 42: 24–48.
Rubin, J. (1984) Injurious to Public Morals: Writers and the Meiji State, Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Seidensticker, E. (tr.) (1976) Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Seidensticker, E. (1978) ‘Introduction’, in Murakami Shikibu: The Tale of Genji, tr. E. Seidensticker, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, pp. vii–xv.
Seidensticker, E. (1980) ‘Chiefly on Translating the Genji’, Journal of Japanese Studies 6 (1): 16–47.
Seidensticker, E. (1983) Genji Days, New York: Kodansha International.
Seidensticker, E. (2002) Tokyo Central: A Memoir, Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Shimizu, H. (2008). ‘Sen nen ki ni yose, omō kotogoto’ (Various Reflections at a Thousand Years), Asahi Shimbun (Asahi newspaper) (Nagoya edn) November 3: 10.
Suematsu, K. (tr.) (1882) Murasaki Shikibu: Genji Monogatari: The Most Celebrated of the Classical Japanese Romances, London: Trübner.
‘The Tale of Murasaki Shikibu’ (1999), The Economist December 31: 106.
Tanizaki, J. (1939–1941) Murasaki shikibu: Junichirō Genji monogatari (The Junichiro Translation of The Tale of Genji) (26 vols), Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha.
Tanizaki, J. (1946) Sasameyuki (the Makioka Sisters), Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha.
Tanizaki, J. (1951a) Murasaki shikibu: Junichirō shinyaku Genji monogatari (The Junichiro New Translation of The Tale of Genji) (Vol. 1), Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha.
Tanizaki, J. (1951b) ‘Genji monogatari shinyaku jo’ (The Tale of Genji New Translation Preface), in J. Tanizaki (tr.) Murasaki shikibu: Junichirō shinyaku Genji monogatari (The Junichiro New Translation of The Tale of Genji) (Vol. 1), Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha, pp. 7–13.
Tanizaki, J. (1951–1954) Murasaki shikibu: Junichirō shinyaku Genji monogatari (The Junichiro New Translation of The Tale of Genji) (12 vols), Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha.
Thompson, K. and D. Bordwell (1994) Film History: An Introduction, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Toury, G. (1995) Descriptive Translation Studies—and beyond, Amsterdam: Johns Benjamins Publishing Company.
Ury, M. (1977) ‘The Complete Genji’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 37 (1): 183–201.
Venuti, L. (2004) The Translator’s Invisibility, New York: Routledge.
Waley, A. (tr.) (1925–1933) Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Yamagishi, T. (ed) (1992) Murasaki shikibu: Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji) (Vol. 1), Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
Yamamoto, T. (1929) ‘Wareshi no yaku (Mr. Waley’s Translation)’, Asahi Shimbun (Asahi newspaper) (Morning edn) January 24: 3.
Yosano, A. (1912–13) Murasaki shikibu: Shinyaku Genji monogatari (The New Translation of The Tale of Genji) (4 vols), Tokyo: Kanaobunendo.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chozick, M. (2018). Cheating on Murasaki Shikibu: (In)fidelity, Politics, and the Quest for an Authoritative Post-war Genji Translation. In: Boase-Beier, J., Fisher, L., Furukawa, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Translation. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75753-7_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75753-7_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75752-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75753-7
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)