Edward Seidensticker
Edward G. Seidensticker | |
---|---|
Tokyo, Japan | |
Occupation | Translator of Japanese literature, writer, author |
Nationality | American |
Period | 1950–2006 |
Edward George Seidensticker (February 11, 1921 – August 26, 2007) was a noted post-World War II American scholar, historian, and preeminent translator of classical and contemporary Japanese literature. His English translation of the epic The Tale of Genji, published in 1976, was especially well received critically and is counted among the preferred modern translations.[1]
Seidensticker is closely associated with the work of three major Japanese writers of the 20th century: Yasunari Kawabata, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, and Yukio Mishima. His landmark translations of novels by Kawabata, in particular Snow Country (1956) and Thousand Cranes (1958), led, in part, to Kawabata being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968.[2]
Biography
Early years
Seidensticker was born in 1921 on an isolated farmstead near
Seidensticker wanted to attend an East Coast university, but because of his family's financial situation he grudgingly enrolled in the University of Colorado at Boulder. It was assumed that he would study law, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and several uncles, but he chose economics, then switched to English, a choice that displeased his family. In June 1942, he graduated with a degree in English.
As the 1940s unfolded, the
War years
Seidensticker received basic training with the
Occupation of Japan and foreign service
About a month after
On his return to the United States, Seidensticker enrolled at Columbia University and took a master's degree in 1947 in what was then known as "public law and government." He joined the U.S. Foreign Service and, after further studies during a summer at Yale University and a year at Harvard, was placed in Tokyo assigned to the Diplomatic Section of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). In May 1950, roughly two years after he arrived in Japan, Seidensticker decided the Foreign Service was not his calling and he resigned on his own initiative. He had not been promoted while colleagues had, and had deemed himself not the salaryman type. Moreover, he sensed a "witch-hunting" in which bachelors were subjected to "peculiar rumors" and a skeptical eye. He also suspected his room at the Daiichi Hotel, his billet, was bugged.[9]
Scholar, educator, and latter years
After his short Foreign Service tenure, Seidensticker studied Japanese literature at the
As the 1960s began to unfold, Seidensticker, growing weary of life in Japan and living life as an outsider,[11] began to consider returning to the United States. In 1962, when an invitation was extended by Stanford University to substitute for a professor on special assignment, he readily accepted and returned to the U.S. after having lived full-time in Japan from 1948 to 1962. Seidensticker taught at Stanford as professor of Japanese from 1962 to 1966. He then joined the faculty at the University of Michigan and remained there for 11 years before being drawn away in 1978 to join the faculty of Columbia University as professor of Japanese. He retired from Columbia in 1985 and was thereafter professor emeritus. During retirement he divided his time between Hawaii and Japan. In 2007, while taking a walk near Shinobazu Pond in the Ueno district of Tokyo, he fell and later died because of head injuries. He was 86.[12]
Translator
Seidensticker is widely regarded as one of the greatest translators of classic and modern Japanese literature into English.[13] His translations have been described as "brilliant"[14] and "elegant." One contemporary scholar noted that in Seidensticker's translations, "You could feel the emotions and nuances that the original writer wanted to convey."[15] He has even been described as "the best" translator of Japanese literature.[16]
Seidensticker won the National Book Award in category Translation for his edition of Kawabata's The Sound of the Mountain (a split award).[17]
He also translated
During his years in Japan Mr. Seidensticker became friends with many of the writers he translated, though the friendships were sometimes tested during the delicate diplomatic dance that is central to the translator's art. As Mr. Seidensticker recalled in Tokyo Central, some writers required more dancing than others:
"Tanizaki wrote clear, rational sentences," Mr. Seidensticker wrote. "I do not, certainly, wish to suggest that I disapprove of such sentences; but translating them is not very interesting. There was little I felt inclined to ask Tanizaki about."
Not so with Kawabata. "Do you not, my esteemed master, find this a rather impenetrable passage?" Mr. Seidensticker recalled asking him, ever so gently, during the translation of Snow Country.
"He would dutifully scrutinize the passage, and answer: 'Yes,'" Mr. Seidensticker wrote. "Nothing more."[12]
The last work he supervised translating into English was You Were Born for a Reason on
Japanologist
Seidensticker wrote
His first major non-translation work, "Kafū the Scribbler: The Life and Writings of Nagai Kafū, 1879–1959" (Stanford University Press, 1965), was a biography of Kafū Nagai, the Japanese writer who is noted for his sensitive depictions of the denizens of Tokyo's pleasure quarters. It was the first study to examine the life and works of Nagai to appear in any Western language. As the book includes a number of Seidensticker translations of Nagai's short stories and novellas, it is neither pure biography nor criticism. Seidensticker, to his lifelong regret, never met Kafū, even though there were opportunities to be introduced.[19]
In Low City, High City: Tokyo from Edo to the Earthquake (1983) and Tokyo Rising: The City Since the Great Earthquake (1990), Seidensticker's two-volume history of Tokyo, he weaves a tale of cultural history of how the city was impacted by the advent of Westernization, and how it responded to the twin disasters of the 20th Century—the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 and the massive destruction incurred in World War II due to Allied bombing raids.
He published his autobiographical observations in Tokyo Central: A Memoir in 2001. A biography and bibliography are included in a commemorative work created by those whose lives he affected, New Leaves: Studies and Translations of Japanese Literature in Honor of Edward Seidensticker (1993).
After retirement, he divided his time between Honolulu and Tokyo. He described the latter as "the world's most consistently interesting city".[20]
Honors
- Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, Third Class, 1975
- Kikuchi Kan Prize, 1977[21]
- Japan Foundation Award, 1984[22]
Selected works
Author
- Japan (New York: Time, Inc., 1961)
- Kafu the Scribbler: The Life and Writings of Nagai Kafu, 1879–1959 (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1965)
- Genji Days (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1977).
- This Country, Japan (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1979).
- Low City, High City: Tokyo from Edo to the Earthquake: How the Shogun's Ancient Capital Became a Great Modern City, 1867–1923 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983).
- Tokyo Rising: The City Since the Great Earthquake (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990).
- Very Few People Come This Way: Lyrical Episodes from the Year of the Rabbit (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996).
- Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002.
- The Snake That Bowed (Berkeley: Printed Matter Press, 2006).
Translator
- Tanizaki, Jun'ichirō. Some Prefer Nettles (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955).
- Kawabata, Yasunari. Snow Country (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956).
- Tanizaki, Jun'ichirō. The Makioka Sisters (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957).
- Kawabata, Yasunari. Thousand Cranes (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1958).
- The Mother of Michitsuna. The Gossamer Years: The Diary of a Noblewoman of Heian Japan (Tokyo and Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Publishing, 1964).
- Nagai, Kafu. "A Strange Tale from East of the River" (plus nine other works) in Kafu the Scribbler: The Life and Writings of Nagai Kafu, 1879–1959 (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1965).
- Kawabata, Yasunari. House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories (Tokyo and Palo Alto, California: Kodansha International Ltd., 1969).
- Kawabata, Yasunari. The Sound of the Mountain (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970).
- Kawabata, Yasunari. The Master of Go (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972).
- Mishima, Yukio. The Decay of the Angel (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974).
- Kawabata, Yasunari; Inoue, Yasushi. The Izu Dancer & Other Stories. (Tokyo and Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Publishing, 1974).
- Murasaki Shikibu. The Tale of Genji (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976).
- Tanizaki, Jun'ichirō. In Praise of Shadows (Sedgwick, Maine: Leete's Island Books, Inc., 1977). Note: Translated by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker.
- Inoue, Yasushi. Lou-Lan and Other Stories (Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd., 1979). Note: Translated by James T. Araki and Edward G. Seidensticker
References
- ^ "The tale of Murasaki Shikibu," The Economist (London). December 23, 1999.
- ^ Associated Press. "Leading translator of Japanese literature, Edward Seidensticker, dies in Tokyo," International Herald Tribune (Asia Pacific). August 27, 2007.
- ^ a b Seidensticker, Edward. Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002), p. 3–12
- ^ Watanabe, Teresa. "Godfathers of Japan Studies Take a Look Back" Los Angeles Times, April 9, 2000.
- ^ Seidensticker, Edward. Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002), p. 24
- ^ Seidensticker, Edward. Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002), p. 31
- ^ Seidensticker, Edward. Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002), p. 34
- ^ Seidensticker, Edward. Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002), p. 38–39
- ^ Seidensticker, Edward. Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002), p. 57
- ^ Seidensticker, Edward. Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002), p. 72
- ^ Seidensticker, Edward. Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002), p. 108
- ^ a b Fox, Margalit (31 August 2007). "Edward Seidensticker, Translator, Is Dead at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ Fallows, James. "Edward Seidensticker" The Atlantic, September 3, 2007
- ^ Gibney, Frank B. "A World Where Suffering is Unavoidable and Pleasure a Delusion" New York Times, December 19, 1976.
- ^ Associated Press. "Prolific Translator Seidensticker, 86" Denver Post, August 27, 2007.
- ^ Bowers, Faubion. "Twenty-five Years Ago: How Japan Won the War" The New York Times Magazine, August 30, 1970, p. 6
- ^
"National Book Awards – 1971". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-11.
There was a "Translation" award from 1967 to 1983. - ^ Seidensticker's last work, supervising translation of a book Archived 2007-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Seidensticker, Edward. Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002), p. 142
- ^ Lloyd Parry, Richard. "Tokyo: The city that's stranger than fiction," Independent (London) June 25, 2000.
- ^ University of Hawaii, honorary degree, Edward Seidensticker
- ^ Japan Foundation Award, 1984
Further reading
- Gatten, Aileen and Anthony Hood Chamber. (1993). New Leaves: Studies and Translations of Japanese Literature in Honor of Edward Seidensticker. Ann Arbor, Michigan: ISBN 978-0-939512-56-0;
- Pocorobba, Janet and Donald Richie. "Edward Seidensticker: Tokyo's Finest Historian," Metropolis (Tokyo Classified), Vol. 300–301.