Salingersan
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Thu, 07 May 1998 22:13:14 +1000
I never thought about the Salinger translations, and this Japanese one just
fascinates me (wait, I tell a lie - I did mention the Heinrich Boll
translation of the German TCIR). Last year I went to a writer's conference
in which about three-fifths were non English speaking. You'd think this
would be a sizeable hurdle in discussion, but the delegates came armed with
translations which they had had no input into and had been translated
professionally - in some cases by literary people, in others by embassy
people. You soon spotted the difference - they, and we, soon realised the
value of a `good' translation, which can put across things for which there
are no words; the poetry, but also the colloquialisms - for example, a
Polish girl had a play called in English `The Best Place to Be in a War is
the Cupboard'. She explained to us the Polish word for `cupboard' is
analogous to that of `heart', which brings a whole new implication. We
wondered how the meaning would be changed again if the translator had
chosen ` ... In the Closet' - again, a whole new meaning.
I wish I knew more Japanese (I only know rudimentary tourist dialect
Japanese) because I have a feeling Salinger's writing would find its
`original face' (for you Zen masters) in Japanese. I find sometimes that
his work has an almost `translated' aesthetic - think for example of the
simplicity of the opening of `Bananafish'. Does anyone out there know
Japanese and/or have access to the translation? I think it would be very
interesting to know of some such implications that have changed in the
translation. Salinger must have been thrilled to have his writing published
in the original home of the Koan. Does anyone know if he has a high profile
over there ?
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE
www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442