Hibbett Reading - Sydnee

 One of the things I enjoyed in this reading was hearing about Hibbett’s references and connections outside of Japanese and Japanese literature, like the texts he drew inspiration from when translating Kagi. I’m always interested in learning about these behind-the-scenes connections because how they manifest in the final product can be so varied. While I don’t think it’s strictly necessary in order to read something ‘well’ or ‘thoroughly,’ I do wonder that it doesn’t always come up in discussions about literature and translation (but of course, not all writers and translators want to openly discuss it).

Related to that idea, I continue to believe that it is necessary to read diversely even if you have particular interests. Working between two languages is not only about those two cultures, but also the way that each is situated globally and how the rich history of different places can inform a single translation. An example of this from Hibbett was in choosing the English title of Manji. It was essential to understand the name and symbol not only in a Japanese/Buddhist or even broadly Asian context, but to look into as many of its iterations and names as possible to find something appropriate to the work and for the Western audience.

Another discussion I thought water interesting was that of aestheticism and exoticism, and that Tanizaki would come under Western criticism for those things, when as Hibbett states, those are clearly qualities desired by American publishers and consumers. Depending on when this was written and when the criticism was at its peak, I assume it was related to some mistrust of Japan after WWII, which primarily occurred in the military/political realm but cannot be separated from culture and literature, which can also be seen in the politics of the Nobel prize that Hibbett mentions but doesn’t get into too much.