Style and Narrative in Translations: The Contribution of Futabatei Shimei

282 Pages·2006·4.083 MB·English

by  Hiroko Cockerill

Style and Narrative in Translations
The Contribution of Futabatei Shimei
by
Hiroko Cockerill
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
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First published 2006 by St. Jerome Publishing
Published 2014 by Routledge
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© Hiroko Cockerill 2006
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ISBN 13: 978-1-900650-91-5 (hbk)
Typeset by
Print-tech India
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Cockerill, Hiroko.
Style and narrative in translations : the contribution of Futabatei Shimei / Hiroko Cockerill.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-900650-91-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Futabatei, Shimei, 1864-1909--Criticism and interpretation.
2. Literature--Translations into Japanese--History and criticism. I. Title.
PL806.T3Z56 2003
895.6’342--dc22
2006003981
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文學嫌の文學者　（坪内逍遥）
“A literary master who disliked literature”
Tsubouchi Shōyō
Cover photograph of Futabatei Shimei is from The Complete Works of Meiji
Literature Vol.17, Selected Works of Futabatei Shimei and Saganoya Omuro, and is
reproduced here by kind permission of Chikuma Shobō Company, Japan.

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements vii

Introduction 9
System for Indicating Tense and Aspect of Verbs 14
Chapter 1: The Signifi cance of The Tryst in Japanese Translation History 16

Chapter 2: The Development of Futabatei’s Translation Style 30
Recognition of Aspect in the Japanese Language 36
Futabatei’s Use of “-ta” Form Verbs 40
Futabatei’s Translation of Past Imperfective and Past Perfective Verbs 44
Chapter 3: Exploring the First-Person Narrative 73
Katakoi [One-sided Love] 74
Yudaya-jin [The Jew] 86
Chapter 4: A Third-person Narrative: The Portrait 93
Chapter 5: Third-Person Narratives: Floating Weed and The Mismatch:
The Restoration of “-ta” Expressing the Past Tense 124
Ukikusa [Floating Weed] 124
Kusare-en [The Mismatch] 143
Chapter 6: Futabatei’s Translation Style and the Styles of Kōyō and Ryūrō 153
Chapter 7: Futabatei’s Third Period of Translation Activity and In His Image 175
Tsutsu o makura [A Rifl e for a Pillow] 178
Yokka-kan [Four Days] 184
Fusagi no mushi [The Depression Bug] 191
Mukashi no hito [Olden Day People] 204
Sono omokage [In His Image] (Futabatei’s second original work) 214
Chapter 8: 1907: Futabatei’s Final Year of Literary Activity 228
Ni kyōjin [Two Madmen] 230
Kyōjin nikki [A Madman’s Diary] 235
Futabatei’s Final Original Work Heibon [Mediocrity] 246
Natsume Sōseki’s Kōfu [The Miner] and Shimazaki Tōson’s Haru [Spring] 253
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Conclusion: Re-evaluating Futabatei’s Translations and their Signifi cance 260
for Contemporary Literature
Appendix : A List of Futabatei Shimei’s Translations and Original Works 266
References 268
Index 277
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Table of Tables
Table 1: A comparison of Futabatei’s translations of past imperfective verbs 46
Table 2: A comparison of Futabatei’s translations of past perfective verbs I 56
Table 3: A comparison of verb forms and sentence endings
in Three Encounters, A Chance Encounter and A Fortuitous Encounter 59
Table 4: A comparison of Futabatei’s translations of past perfective verbs II 64
Table 5: Regularities in Futabatei’s translation of verb forms
in his revised versions 71
Table 6: Genette’s classifi cation of narratives 94
Table 7: The relationship between author, narrator
and hero in Genette’s classifi cation 95
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Acknowledgements
This book is the fruit of doctoral studies undertaken at the University of Queensland in Aus-
tralia from 1998 to 2003. It was a great privilege to be able to spend so much time pursuing
my interest in the literatures of Japan and Russia. This was facilitated by scholarships from
the University of Queensland, which have enabled me to participate in full-time studies for
part of my Ph.D. candidature, and to travel to Japan to collect material for this thesis. My
supervisors during that time, Dr. Tomoko Aoyama and Dr. John McNair, were untiring in
their help and this book owes much to them. My Head of Department, Associate Professor
Nanette Gottlieb, was also most encouraging, fi nding time in her busy schedule to read my
draft chapters, and encouraging me to develop a book from my research. I am grateful also
to Associate Professor Kenneth Henshall and Dr. David Wells, who as examiners made
valuable suggestions.
While I was in Japan to collect material for this study I received valuable assistance from
the librarians at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Hitotsubashi University, Waseda
University, Nagoya University and Aichi Prefectural University. I am also grateful to my
sister Professor Shimono Keiko, for sending me numerous books and articles, and to my
friend at Tokyo University, Dr. Shimizu Michiko, who sent me valuable material and gave
kind advice.
I would like to thank Alan Turney, who as referee carefully read my manuscript and sug-
gested a number of improvements, and Mona and Ken Baker at St. Jerome for their invaluable
help in editing my manuscript and guiding me through the process of producing this book.
Finally I would like to thank my husband, Alan, who has not only supported me emotion-
ally through this challenging endeavour, but has also spent many hours over the past seven
years assisting with the typing and proof reading.
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Introduction
Futabatei Shimei (1864-1909) is generally regarded as the founder of the modern Japanese
novel, because of the signifi cant innovation in content and style of his fi rst genbun itchi1
novel Ukigumo [Floating Clouds] (1887-1889). Despite his early success in writing Floating
Clouds, it was nearly two decades before he produced his two other novels Sono omokage
[In His Image] (1906) and Heibon [Mediocrity] (1907). While Futabatei may have been a
reluctant writer, he was an enthusiastic and productive translator. During the long interval
between his fi rst and second novels Futabatei wrote numerous translations from Russian
literature, becoming the fi rst signifi cant Japanese translator of Russian literature, and
introducing Japanese readers to works by Turgenev (nine works), Gogol (three works),
Tolstoy (one work), Garshin (two works), Gorky (fi ve works) and Andreyev (one work).
The infl uence of his translations rivalled, and at times exceeded that of his original works.
A particularly strong impression was made by his fi rst published translations, which were of
two stories by Turgenev: Svidanie [The Rendezvous] and Tri vstrechi [Three Encounters] ,
and appeared in 1888 under the titles Aibiki [The Tryst] and Meguriai [A Chance Encounter] .
These early translations were received with even greater acclaim than Floating Clouds, and
had considerable infl uence upon young writers of the Japanese naturalist school such as
Kunikida Doppo, Tayama Katai and Shimazaki Tōson . His fi rst novel and fi rst two translations
together represent the fi rst period of Futabatei’s literary activity (1887-1889). A second pe-
riod of literary activity (1896-1898) was devoted entirely to translations, and a third period
(1904-1908) included a diverse selection of translations and two novels.2
Compared with the extensive critical literature devoted to Futabatei’s three original
novels, the number of books and articles about his translations is undeservedly small: a
single monograph by Satō Seirō (1995) and several articles, almost all written by Japanese
slavists and translators from Russian. Given the signifi cant impact of The Tryst and A Chance
Encounter , it is not surprising that many of these articles focus on Futabatei’s translations
from Turgenev . Jinzai Kiyoshi (1954), Kimura Shōichi (1956), Yonekawa Masao (1963)
and Yanagi Tomiko (1971, 1973) all evaluate these translations very highly. Jinzai in
particular determined the direction of research on Futabatei’s translations by emphasizing
his “faithfulness” in the translation of Turgenev’s works. Jinzai points out that most of
Futabatei’s translations from Turgenev were made during his early years, and that the fi rst
versions of The Tryst and A Chance Encounter explicitly demonstrate Futabatei’s faithfulness
to the original. He concludes that “for Futabatei, Turgenev was the most congenial writer”
and that “Turgenev was the writer whose style was most suited to Futabatei’s own” (Cited
in Futabatei Shimei 1965e: 176).
Interestingly, Futabatei made revised translations of The Rendezvous and Three Encounters
in 1896, some eight years after his fi rst translations had appeared. He retained the title Aibiki
for The Rendezvous, but when translating Three Encounters adopted the new title of Kigū
[A Fortuitous Encounter ]. He then went on to translate another fi ve works by Turgenev :
Asya , Son [The Dream ], Rudin , Zhid [The Jew ] and Petushkov , which were published under
1 Genbun itchi refers to the use of a style derived from spoken language in a written narrative.
2 See Appendix 1 for a list of the translations and original works written during each period.
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