2024年2月22日 星期四

感動 156 日本文化/文學名家 John Weil Nathan (born March 1940) 夏目漱石傳; 三島由紀夫傳 .....A Reluctant Translator: Reflections from John Nathan

Sep 18, 2018 — For nigh on sixty years, I have been an unfaithful translator. Not to texts so much, but to authors. Had I adhered loyally to one or another ...


A conversation with Japanologist, translator, and filmmaker John Nathan, author of the memoir Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere.

John Weil Nathan (born March 1940) is an American translator, writer, scholar, filmmaker, and Japanologist. His translations from Japanese into English include the works of Yukio MishimaKenzaburō ŌeKōbō Abe, and Natsume Sōseki.[4] Nathan is also an Emmy Award-winning producer, writer and director of many films about Japanese culture and society and American business. He is Professor Emeritus of Japanese Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.[5]


 Nathan's works focus on Japanese culture, Japanese literature, Japanese cinema, the theory and practice of translation,[22] and the sociology of business culture. Nathan first met Yukio Mishima in 1963.[8] In 1965, at the age of 25, Nathan translated Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. Impressed by Nathan's translation, Mishima requested Nathan sign on as his translator and help Mishima in his quest in being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Nathan was more interested in translating the work of Kenzaburō Ōe. Nathan ultimately refused to translate Mishima's 1964 novel Kinu to Meisatsu (絹と明察), opting instead to translate Kenzaburō Ōe's 1964 novel Kojinteki na Taiken (個人的な体験). Mishima, who was considered an "arch-rival" of Ōe, abruptly severed ties with Nathan afterwards.[23][24] In 1974, Nathan authored Mishima: A Biography (1974), a biography of Yukio Mishima.[25] In 1994, Kenzaburō Ōe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and Nathan accompanied him to Stockholm.[26]


Works[edit]

Translations[edit]

Novels[edit]

Short stories[edit]

  • Ōe, Kenzaburō (1965). "Lavish Are the Dead". Japan Quarterly. Vol. 12, no. 2 (April–June 1965 ed.). pp. 193–211.[42]
  • Abe, Kōbō (1966). "Stick". Japan Quarterly. Vol. 13 (April–June 1966 ed.). pp. 214–217.[43]
  • Abe, Kōbō (1966). "Red Cocoon". Japan Quarterly. Vol. 13 (April–June 1966 ed.). pp. 217–219.[43]

Books[edit]

Documentary film[edit]

  • The Japanese, A Film Trilogy: Full Moon Lunch, The Blind Swordsman, Farm Song (1979); music for Farm Song written by Toru Takemitsu
  • The Colonel Comes to Japan (1982, Emmy Award) – A film about KFC in Japan.
  • Entrepreneurs (1986)[44]
  • Daimyo – The Arts of Feudal Japan (1988)

Screenplay[edit]


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