Sunday, October 29, 2023

Hibbet on Tanizaki (Kelly)

 What caught my interest the most was when Hibbet was passed on the task of translating "The Key." Something I find really unique about the Japanese language is the fact that it has two alphabets with an endless kanji system so when the text said the book was written as a secret diary exchange with the husband's side written katakana to emulate a masculine side and hiragana for the wife's side. At first, I had also thought maybe bolded letters for the husband's side and italics for the wife's side, but Hibbet says italics did not seem productive here so I'm curious to see how "The Key" ended up being translated.

Another point brought up was the translation of titles, specifically the translation of Manji --- the Buddhist Swatika symbol. It may be something traditional in Japan and something common to see but in the West, it is definitely a very touch subject with, I assume, different reactions to seeing the symbol or references to it on a cover. I think "crossing lines" would be an interesting translation but it rids itself of any religious notions the author may have wanted to include, but very unique otherwise. I think just using Manji itself would also be a good translation.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Schleiermacher and Deutscher Response - Camille

 I enjoyed the framework Schleiermacher uses to describe translation strategies, as moving towards the reader vs towards the author. Though ...