Japanese and French Literature in English
Reading, I explore imaginary vistas, twisting plots, and character development, encounter varying life perspectives, cultural mores, and practices, and delight in novel wordplay, styles, rhythms, and sentence structures.
Translating, I take on the fascinating challenge of making these diverse experiences—first created within another language and culture—accessible to an audience reading in English.
Every reading experience is different, with each reader’s unique combination of memories, philosophies, and situation in place and time sparking her own set of thoughts and associations with a particular work. Literary translation broadens the range of possible encounters between books and readers.
Below is a list of my literary translations to date, including a short story published as part of a mentorship programme run by Kurodahan Press and the University of Cardiff.
| Short story in Vampiric: Tales of Blood and Roses from Japan | 『楽園回帰』, translated as “Paradise Missing” | 飯野文彦 |
| Submission to the 2018 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize | 『パラソル』 | 井上雅彦 |
| 12-page manga sample for Japanese e-publication company EAST | 『ハルコさんの彼氏』 | 倉塚りこ |
| Dissertation (MSc) | 『鮫人』(extract) | 谷崎潤一郎 |
| Translation and Creativity (MSc) | 『二百年』(extract) | 大庭みな子 |
| Portfolio of Literary Translation Exercises 1 [J→E] (MSc) | 『非色』(extract) | 有吉佐和子 |
| 『細雪』(extract) | 谷崎潤一郎 | |
| 『火に行く彼女』 | 川端康成 | |
| Portfolio of Literary Translation Exercises 2 [E→J] (MSc) | Amid Shortages, a Surplus of Hope (English translation of the original, Japanese article by Ralph F. McCarthy) | Murakami Ryū |
| Weetzie Bat (extract) | Francesca Lia Block | |
| Catch-22 (extract) | Joseph Heller | |
| Young Dracula screenplay (extract) | Danny Robins, Dan Tetsell |