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クチコミ情報
「ねえ、ワタナベ君」は"Hey, Watanabe"か?訳者のジェイ・ルービン氏は原文をかなり忠実に英語に移している。彼自身、村上春樹の原文のリズムを大切にしているといっているので、その点でも日本語で読むのと違和感はほとんどない。英語で読んでもこの小説の切ない「透明な哀しみ」は過不足なく伝わってくる。何語に訳されても名作はやはり名作なのだ。
また、原文同様平易な口語英語の文体で訳されているので、大変いい英語表現の勉強になる。原文と英訳を対照しながら読んでいくと、あちこち感心させられる表現にぶつかる。「…店員たちはなんとなく手持ち無沙汰な風情だった」が"...and all the employers had that what-do-we-do-now? kind of look."と訳されていて、なるほどと思う。
ただ、やはり「文化」はなかなか単純に翻訳できないことも分かる。緑さんが何度も呼びかける「ねえ、ワタナベ君」も、カタカナ表記を含めて、"Hey, Watanabe"と出てくるたびに引っかかるものがあるし、日本語でその場にすごくぴったりな擬音語・擬態語も当然英語には移せない。また、訳者が「甘える」の内容を理解しないために誤訳を冒している箇所もある。食べ物なども含めて、日本文化と色濃く関わる部分がどのように英訳されているかは、なかなか興味深い問題だが、逆に、「…気のきかない奴隷みたいに」が"...like dumb geisha"(馬鹿な芸者みたいに)などと訳されているのを見るとガクゼンとする。トオルの口癖の「やれやれ」もなかなかぴったりな英語にはならない。
ともあれ、『ノルウェイの森』を日本語で読んで感動し、さらにまた英語で読んで再度感動し、おまけに英語の勉強にもなり、その上日本と英語圏の文化のズレについて考えさせられる。多少苦労しても、英語版を読むのは十分に報いられる経験だと思う。
You can enjoy a sort of nakedness of mind and body.This is a story of love and loneliness of a college student who is somewhat indifferent and nonchalant. I like him on the point that he has his own world and does not easily assimilate with others' thoughtless opinions. Through a love affair with two different types of women, he grows to understand how others feel sore by his careless behavior. I could naturally go into the story because his growth of this made me feel that I once experienced the same. What each character thinks in the bottom of the heart is totally bared open, which sometimes accompanies an erotic scene. Definitely interesting and engaging story.
国際化村上春樹の書籍が、これほどたくさん翻訳されており、これほどたくさん売れているのを知りませんでした。
テレビによくでるようになって、社会波の立場も明確にされましたが、その原点がどこにあるか分かっていません。
ただ、国際的なセンスがあることは確かめられました。
内容を覚えているところは分かりますが、内容を忘れたところは、何が書いてあるか、今のところわかりません。
孤独…喪失この気持ち、どう表現しよう
こんなにも澄んだ作品はない気がする。
しとしと雨の降る中、タバコとウィスキーを傾けながら読む。
ときどき空を見上げて、何かを思い出して…
一人で本を読んでいるだけなのに、こんなにも世界は広い。
「喪失」は失うことではなく、与えられることなのかなあ
Sorry I arrived late...I have lived in Japan for nearly a decade, during which time I have read dozens of books ON Japan but very little Japanese Literature. The main reason was that having encountered many incidents of shoddy translation I was waiting to read Japanese Literature in Japanese. Unknowing of this wish, my girlfriend kindly sent me this Vintage edition translated by Jay Rubin and as both a 'courtesy' to her and a way to understand her better I decided to give it a read. What I could not have imagined soon became crystal clear, firstly the translation is EXCELLENT, Rubin has done an outstanding job, and secondly, Murakami, as story teller of the first degree. Sure, this simple narrative is neither original or outstanding structurally, but it is in other numerous regards. Murakami's strength as a story-teller is his ability to suck you in and hold you there - front row seats all the way. As the plot unravels before your eyes you feel you know these characters he has drawn, that you know them far beyond the surface of which you have been told, that you know their inner core and their deepest hopes and fears. Because the writing is not unnecessarily uncomplicated, the pages just race by and this fluidity means you can finish this in three good sittings. All this leaves you feeling with a strange sense, of actually having know these characters - who could forget the lasting images of Storm-trooper, Midori et al., and in the end, a sense of loss when the final page comes around. All in all, an excellent novel and one worth reading whether you have an interest in Japan or not - actually that's an interesting disparity worth highlighting, the fact that people often read 'Asian' literature because they have an interest in Asia, but seldom read American Literature because the have an interest in America... Finally as an addendum, it should be pointed out that the late '60s backdrop that this is 'supposedly' set against, is no more than a piece of cloth hung from the ceiling to obscure the mess behind - this reads as absolute contemporary literature and with the exception of the odd 'Peace' or 'Right-on' it has no visible setting, nor leaves no particular after-taste.
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