Introduction
6. The literary creator has the right to disintegrate the primal matter of
words imposed on him by text-books and dictionaries.
7. He has the right to use words of his own fashioning and to disregard
existing grammatical and syntactical laws.(transition, 16/17)
In June 2004, another translator, Kyoko Miyata, published a more readable Japanese translation of FW. Her abridged translation, about half the quantity of the original, with her introduction of each chapter and detailed notes for Joycean words (curiously the same 628-pages as the original), is much more understandable than Yanase's, and plays another role for prospective Japanese readers.
Eun-Kyung Chun comments that she likes Miyata's translation since it is more accessible to the general reader: “The accessibility does not mean a "low" level at all; it means the translator considers readers and tries to find her own way to deliver the content and spirit of FW to readers. Additionally, my father [Ho-Jong Chun, Professor Emeritus of American Literature] likes her method of presenting (introducing) FW to Japanese readers.” 3) Her comment exactly points out the major difference of the two translations.
I. Historical
Order of Japanese Translations of Finnegans
Wake
In translation
process,
translators are expected to “change into another language retaining the
sense”
(OED 2) and also to convey the original meaning to readers neatly.
In this sense, Finnegans Wake
has been considered to be "untranslatable"
or one of the most difficult books to translate, because it was written
in
multiple languages. As listed by Joyce, Finnegans
Wake contains 40 languages
including Japanese and Chinese, but how can translators transpose the
multilingualism Joyce used or the Joycean compounded words?
Of course, translators can abandon Joyce’s
multilingualism and translate it into a single language to encourage
mono-lingual readers to read Finnegans
Wake. To do this, the translator
must select the surface meaning of each word and phrase to transcribe
it into
one language, which is considered to diminish greatly the literary
value of the
multilingualism Joyce employed in Finnegans
Wake. Joyce needed to use
multilingualism for Finnegans Wake to
accomplish his final goal, the deconstruction and recreation of English
which
is not “his language,” as Stephen Dedalus tells in his interior
monologue in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,
although it was definitely his native tongue long before he was born.
4)
On the European
Continent where not so many people
use English as their daily language, Joyce earned his living by
teaching
English. But his incompatibility or
feeling of unbelonging with English language while living on the
Continent
could be redoubled by the deconstruction.
Finnegans
Wake is a work of fiction which consists of deliberately incorrect
misspellings. Unlike Chinese characters
or “kanji,” which express their meanings with symbols, the alphabetical
letters
express only how to pronounce the words, which enables us to interpret
each
word of FW infinitely. Among
many translations, the Korean and
Japanese complete translations are unique in not using the Roman
alphabet.
Unlike the majority of world languages which
normally use the common basic word order, that is, “Subject, Verb and
Object,” Korean
and Japanese languages belong to the same linguistic group, the
Ural-Altaic
family which includes Mongolian, Turkish, Hungarian and Finnish which
employ
the basic word order, “Subject, Object and Verb.” Recent
linguistic research, however, has been
proving that there is no clear similarity in lexica among Ural-Altaic
languages, but that they are agglutinative languages in word structure
using
affixes, especially suffixes to the root.
The Japanese written language
consists of
three elements, “hiragana,” “katakana” and “Kanji” or Chinese
characters. “Hiragana” is a much smoother
script, full of
loops and curves. There are 46 basic
“hiragana”
characters, each one having a counterpart in “katakana.”
All sounds in the Japanese language can be
expressed with just hiragana (Sterzinger).
After the Meiji Restoration in 1869 the new government
impelled
the
Japanese people through sudden westernization to catch up with the
Great Powers
of the world. Then people gradually came
to use “katakana” for foreign, especially Western words.
Chinese characters or “Kanji” is the most
complicated script in Japanese. “Kanji”
characters are Chinese ideograms and number in the thousands with each
one
representing a different idea, but most of “kanji” characters have more
than
one possible reading (Sterzinger). So
Japanese writers often put what we call “Rubies” or “furigana” onto
kanji
characters to indicate the right pronunciation for readers.
This complicated writing system, however,
enriched Japanese, especially in translation process, as we will see
later.
The
history of translating FW into
Japanese can be traced back to the year 1933. After six more partial
translations,
Naoki Yanase finished the first complete Japanese translation of Finnegans Wake in 1993:
Joyce Shishu (The Poetical Works of James Joyce).
*Nishiwaki translated it wiith the guide of C. K. Ogden's “Basic English” translation.
2. Osawa, Masayoshi, Shigeru Koike, Junnosuke Sawasaki & Motoi Toda. “Shem the
Penman” (FW169.01-170.24) with detailed notes in Kikan Sekai-Bungaku (World
Literature Quarterly, No.2, Winter 1966), B1-12.
3. Osawa, Masayoshi & Junnosuke Sawasaki. FW I.8 (FW206.29-207.20), III.1
(FW418.10-419.08) & IV (FW627.34-628.16) with detailed notes in Shueisha’s
“Gendai Shishuu” (“Collection of Modern Poems”) of Sekai Bungaku Zenshuu 35
(The Selected Works of World Literature, vol.35).
4. Osawa, Masayoshi, Kyoko Ono, Shigeru Koike & Junnosuke Sawasaki, Kenzo Suzuki
& Motoi Toda. Anna Livia Plurabelle I ~ VII (FW196.01-208.05) with detailed
notes serialized in Kikan Pædeia (Pædeia Quarterly, nos.7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 & 15).
5. Suzuki, Yukio, Ryo Nonaka, Koichi Konno, Kayo Fujii, Tazuko Nagasawa & Naoki
Yanase. FW I.1-3, Finnegan Tetsuyasai sono-1 (Finnegans Wake 1) (FW003-074).
Bungaku (Waseda Literature) from Feb. 1969 to Dec.1974.
6. Osawa, Masayoshi, Kyoko Ono, Shigeru Koike, Junnosuke Sawasaki, Kenzo Suzuki
& Motoi
Toda. 5 fragmental translations of FW (FW169.01-170.24, FW206.29-207.20,
FW418.10-419.08, FW593.01-18 & FW627.34-628.16) with detailed notes in
Sekai no Bungaku (World Literature) vol.1.
in Chikuma Sekai
Joyce II / O'Brien (
7. --------. Anna Livia Plurabelle (FW196-216) in Bungei-zasshi Umi (Literary
Magazine Umi), (Dec.1982), 288-305. With some of Joyce’s related letters
(trans. Masayoshi Osawa) and Osawa's essay (306-328). Recollected in Chikuma
Sekai Bungaku-taikei (Chikuma
/O’Brien (Tokyo: Chikumashobo, 1998).
8. Yanase, Naoki. Finnegans Wake I-II.
--------. Finnegans Wake III-IV.
*The paperback edition (3vols.; I, II &III/IV) was published in “Kawade-bunko”
by Kawadeshobo-shinsha in January-March 2004.
9. Miyata, Kyoko. An Abridged Translation of Finnegans Wake.
2004.
length of the original text.
A
succession of Japanese translators have exerted themselves to translate
Finnegans Wake into Japanese. Nishiwaki,
the first translator, decoded the Anna Livia chapter
with the guide of C.
K. Ogden's “Basic English” translation.
The second group, Osawa, Koike, Sawasaki and Toda first
decrypted “Shem
the Penman” into Japanese with detailed notes.
Their method in expressing the multiple meanings of each Joycean
phrase
is to transfer its surface meaning into readable Japanese text and make
endnotes to explain its lower- layered meanings, historical background,
etc. The same method was basically
employed by the third group led by the late professor Yukio
Suzuki.
Naoki Yanase first learned of Finnegans
Wake by joining Suzuki's
reading group, which published the fifth partial translation in 1971. They translated the first three chapters and
added footnotes.
After that, Yanase left the group and began to translate Finnegans Wake alone in 1986. He published the first half of the translation (Books I and II) in 1991 and the other half (Books III and IV) in 1993; he took seven and a half years to complete the translation. He did not add a translator's note, although he had to make some fragmental notes later at the requests of readers. Although it is still the only complete Japanese translation of Finnegans Wake, general readers often complain that it is too difficult to follow the supposedly main plot because of the very complex usage of Japanese Yanase employed to express Joyce's multilingualism or multi-layered meanings of each word and phrase of the novel. Probably most readers would give up reading Yanase's translation in the first few pages. Yanase made a great effort to duplicate Joyce's original text into Japanese: but Yanase's new Japanese usage cannot be a Creole to communicate between Joyce and common Japanese readers.
Kyoko Miyata's style of translation makes it much easier for general readers to access the text as Eun-Kyung Chun suggests. Miyata, impressed with Michel Butor's introduction to the French translation of “Anna Livia Plurabelle,” that can be summarized that “when reading, the reader consciously or unconsciously makes one choice among mass of meanings of words and phrases.” 5) Then she thought that there is a limit in translating multiple (much more than two or three) meanings of Joycean words into Japanese: so she decided to take care of how to select one (or two) meaning(s) of each word and translate it into the easiest Japanese as she could, and to indicate the ambiguities in notes (Miyata 673). However, it was not so easy, as she confessed in the afterword of her translation (Miyata 673).
Miyata carefully followed the first layered plot to transcribe
it into
easy Japanese as best she could and put detailed notes at the foot of
each page
for the general reader; she explained the (at most three) implications
of each
entry in order to save paper space.
Miyata mainly consulted Bernard Benstock’s “A Working Outline”
and also
looked through Anthony Burgess's A
Shorter “Finnegans Wake” to decide which parts to select to
translate for
her 628-page-long translation (same as the original text length).
6)
Her translation includes every beginning and
ending part of each chapter, and also contains hard-core episodes,
important
passages to show the novel's themes and other motifs that Miyata chose. She put her interpretations before and after
the translated parts, explaining the meanings and significance, and
their
context. She hopes that her translation
is much more understandable to general Japanese readers.
She wished to Finnegans Wake, “as an organic
whole, to bring in relief this thin
but surely existing flow of narrative.”
7)
She uses Eco’s three phrases from The Aethetics of
Chaosmos for her
translation7s endorsement with his permission: “an enormous ‘world
theater,’” “a
clavis universalis,” and “a ‘mirror’
of the cosmos” (Eco 73).
8)
Since it was published in June 2004, Miyata’s translation has met with
a
favorable reception by the reading public.
She could have translated the whole text, but she selected an abridged
form supplemented with her explanations and summary of the missing
parts: to
highlight the signposts in the deep linguistic forest for the general
reader, although
some academic or enthusiastic readers might be discouraged.
II. Distinctive Features of Two Translations
As
Yanase explained later in many of his books and interviews, his
translation
owes greatly to the developments of Japanese word processors and CD-ROM
dictionaries. He always referred to the
Yanase's
key Joycean lexicons (most frequently used first)
2. Campbell, Joseph and Henry Morton Robinson: A Skeletion Key to
“Finnegans Wake”
3. Rose, Danis: James Joyce’s The Index Manuscript “Finnegans Wake”
Holograph Workbook VI.B.46
4. Gordon, John: “Finnegans Wake”: A Plot Summery
5. Joyce, P.W.: Irish Names of Places
6. Scott, Michael, ed.: Hall’s Ireland
7. Tindall, W. Y.: A Reader’s Guide to “Finnegans Wake”
8. Hart, Clive: A Concordance to “Finnegans Wake”
9. Ó Súilleabháin, Seán: Irish Wake Amusements
10. Hayman, David: A First Draft Version of “Finnegans Wake” (FS 163-64)
Additionally,
his lexicon list includes A Lexicon of
the German in “Finnegans Wake, ” A
Gaelic Lexicon for “Finnegans Wake, ”
A Classical Lexicon for “Finnegans Wake, ”
Scandinavian Elements of “Finnegans Wake, ” A Third
Census of “Finnegans Wake” and A “Finnegans Wake”
Gazetteer (JhJ
21-22). It is notable that his list
includes Ó Súilleabháin's Irish Wake
Amusements: it was first written in Irish as Caitheamh
Aimsire ar Thórraimh in 1961 and translated by the author
in 1967. It explains the various
features of the Irish wake amusements: story-telling, singing, music,
dancing,
contests in strength, taunting, mocking, booby traps, and various games
like
imitative games, catch games, etc.: needless to say, such Irish wake
amusements
can be found throughout Finnegans Wake.
Hall's
Ireland is about Mr. & Mrs. Hall's tour of 1840 which covers
almost all
the major sightseeing spots of
Miyata's
five key Joycean lexicons for her notes:
Miyata used more than a hundred Joycean references including
Yanase's
translation as listed in her afterword.
To make her notes for readers, she used the following five books:
University Press, 1977.
2. McHugh, Roland: Annotations to Finnegans Wake, Revised ed.,
Hopkins
3. Campbell, Joseph and Henry Morton Robinson: A Skeleton Key to
Finnegans Wake, Viking Press, 1944, 1966.
4. Tindall, William York: A Reader’s Guide to Finnegans Wake, Farrar,
Straus & Giroux, 1969.
5. Rose, Danis and John O’Hanlon: Understanding Finnegans Wake,
Garland
It
is not fair to Yanase, however, to compare his lexicon list with
Miyata's
because she translated ten years after Yanase did, and could refer to
even
Yanase's translation when necessary.
Both commonly referred to McHugh's Annotations
to “Finnegans Wake,” Campbell & Robinson's A
Skeletion Key to “Finnegans Wake” and Tindall's A
Reader's Guide to Finnegans Wake.
Yanase's translation and
Miyata's translation can be contrasted in the following points:
Yanase: Putting “Rubies” or “furigana” onto every Chinese character or “kanji” to indicate the pronunciation and its implication. He tried to express as many multiple meanings as possible in the translation, creating many new Japanese words and using somewhat unusual Chinese characters and “Rubies” (or “furugana”) on them. “Rubies” or “furigana” enabled Yanase to add lower layers of meaning to words written in Chinese characters. “Furigana” allowed him to emulate, though not literally reproducing, the puns, double-entendres and allusions that fill every sentence of Joyce's original text.
Miyata: Putting “Rubies” or “furigana” onto some words to indicate the pronunciation and its implication: she explained the implications in the footnotes.
2. Word order:
Yanase: Persistently tried to follow the original word order. It is very difficult for Japanese and Korean translators, because the two languages use another word order (Subject-Object-Verb). Yanase insists that “translators must translate not only the words but also the styles used in the text” (HwJd 10).
Miyata: Tried to follow the original word order only if it can be transcribed in plain Japanese. She seems to have followed it successfully in the first page as we will see later.
3. Sentence length:
Yanase: Basically transposed the original sentence into Japanese with almost the same length. Japanese translations tend to become much longer than the original English texts, because Japanese translators often add some more words to explain the cultural background, etc.
Miyata: Basically transposed the original sentence into plain Japanese with almost the same length if possible. She explained the ambiguities in the footnotes.
4. Sound:
Yanase: Retaining the original sounds as much as possible. His translation holds the original sound to a surprising degree.
Miyata: Tried to reflect the musicality of Joyce's original text upon her translation: “It does not mean I resorted to some poetic devices: I was just loyal to my own internal rhythm. Some critic said he felt he could hear the flow of a river. That was just what I had wished to express,” as Miyata said. 9)
5. Suffixes and ending of the sentences:
Yanase: Consciously avoiding repeatedly using the same Japanese suffixes and ending of the sentences. Japanese repeatedly uses the same suffix, but it would often make the translation toneless.
Miyata: Not seeming to have paid special attention to it as Yanase did.
6. Creating new Japanese words:
Yanase: Creating new Japanese words to translate the multiple meanings of
Joycean wordplays, puns, even rhymes and alliterations.
Miyata: Not creating new Japanese words: she used only plain Japanese words and phrases to make a more understandable translation.
7. Adaptations into Japanese contexts:
Yanase: Adventurously transposing the original cultural contexts and historical backgrounds into Japanese ones.
Miyata: Not transposing them into Japanese ones so much, because she just tried to follow the supposedly main plot.
8. Readability:
Yanase: Most readers cannot understand it without the original text and some Joycean exegeses (McHugh's Annotations, etc.). This is why most readers gave up reading it in the first few pages. So, for most Japanese readers, Yanase's translation is literally esoteric, although 35,000 copies of Volume One are said to have been sold in the first publication year. 10)
Miyata: Much more readers can understand it without reading the original text. This greatly owes to Miyata's explanation of the main plots, cultural and historical backgrounds. Her summaries for the missing parts successfully light up the supposedly main plot in the dark Joycean forest.
III. First Page of Two Translations Compared
The Following is
the first page of the two translations and notes:
3.01: riverrun, past Eve and Adam's,
from swerve
of shore to bend
Yanase 川走、イブ・アダム礼盃亭 を過ぎ、 く寝る 岸辺 から輪ん曲する
Senso, Evu- Adamu-reihaitei wo sugi, kuneru kishibe kara wankyokusuru
* *
Miyata 川は流れる。 「イブとアダム教会」を過ぎ、弧を描く河岸 から 湾曲 する
kawa wa nagareru. “Evu to Adamu-kyokai” wo sugi, ko wo egaku kagan kara wankyoku suru.
3.02: of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of
recirculation back to
Yanase 湾へ、今も度失せぬ 巡り路 を 媚行し、 巡り戻る は
wan e, conmodou-senu megurimichi wo Vico shi, megurimodoru wa
*
Miyata 海 へと向かい、再循環する 心地よいヴィーコ・ロードのわきを 進み、
umi eto mukai, saijunkansuru kokochiyoi Vico Road no waki wo susumi,
3.03: Howth Castle and Environs.
Yanase 栄地四囲委蛇たるホウス城 と その周円。
H C E taru Howsu-jo to sono shuen.
H C E
Miyata ホース城とその 周辺 へ われらを 連れ戻す。
Howsu-jo to sono shuhen e warera wo tsuremodosu
3.04: Sir Tristram, violer d'amores,
fr'over the
short sea, had passen-
Yanase サー・トリストラム、かの 恋 の 怜人 が、短潮 の 海 を 越え、
Saa Torisutoramu, kano koi no reijin ga, tancho no umi wo koe,
* *
Miyata ヴィオラ・ダモーレを奏でる 愛 の 破戒者サー・トリストラムが、
viola-damore wo kanaderu ai no hakaisha Saa Torisutoramu ga,
3.05: core rearrived from North Armorica on this side
the scraggy
Noosu Arumorika kara kochira
*
Miyata 孤独 な 半島 性 戦争 を 戦う ため に北アルモリカから波立つ 海を越えて
kodoku na hantou-sei senso wo tatakau tame ni kita Arumorika kara namidatu umi wo koete
3.06: isthmus of Europe Minor to wielderfight his
penisolate war:
nor
Yanase ヨーロッパ・マイナーの凹ぎす地峡 へ 遅れ早せ ながら 弧軍筆戦せん と、
Yoroppa Mainaa no ougisu chikyo e okurebayase nagara kogunhissen sen to,
たび
ふた旅やってきた のは、もうとう に、まだまだ だった。
futatabi yattekita nowa, mou tou ni, madamada datta.
Miyata 岩多き 地峡 へふたたびやって来るのはまだのこと、
iwa-ooki chikyo e futatabi yattekuru nowa mada no koto,
3.07: had
topsawyer's rocks by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselse
Yanase オコーネー河畔 の 頭 ソーヤー団地 が うわっさうわっさと
* トップ・ソーヤー
Miyata オコニー川わきに木挽き親方 の 岩 が積み上がって
Oconii-gawa waki ni kobiki-oyakata no iwa ga tsumiagatte
3.08: to
Laurens County's gorgios while they went doublin their mumper
Yanase ダブりつづけ、ローレンス郡 は 常時阿集 にふくれあがった のも、
Dabuli-tsuzuke, Lourensu-gun wa giogiashu ni fukureagatta nomo,
* *
Miyata ジョー ジア州ロレンス郡となり、ダブリン、ダブリンと非ジプシーの
giogia-shu Lorensu-gun to nari, Dabulin, Dabulin to hi-jipushii no
3.09: all the time: nor avoice from afire bellowsed
mishe mishe to
Yanase も う まだだった。 遠炎 の一声 が 吾め 割れ目 とのたまわって
mou madadatta. En-en no issei ga wareme wareme to notamawatte
Miyata 人 口が 膨れていくのもまだのこと、 情熱 の火に煽られた声 が、
jinko ga fukureteiku nomo mada no koto, jonetsu no hi ni aorareta koe ga,
3.10: tauftauf thuartpeatrick not yet, though
venissoon after, had a
Yanase 汝パトリック の 泥誕 を洗礼した のも、もうまだだった。鹿るのち に、
nanji Patorikku no deitan wo senreishita nomo, mou mada datta. Shikarunochi ni,
やぎがわ むすこ
山羊皮 息子 が
yagigawa-musuko ga
ミシユミシユタフタフ *
Miyata われを洗礼せよ、 汝ぺトリック、と言うのもまだのこと、
ware wo senrei seyo (mishu mishu tafu tafu), nanji Petorikku,to iu nommo mada no koto,
もう間もないことながら、
mou mamonai kotonagara,
3.11: kidscad buttended a bland old isaac: not yet,
though all's fair in
Yanase 若下司のいたりで 盲碌 伊作爺さん を食ぶらかし たのも、じきにまだだった。
wakagesu no itari de mouroku Isaku-jiisan wo taburakashita nomo, jiki ni mada datta.
* *
Miyata 若造 が老耄アイザックをバットで追い出すの もまだのこと、
wakazo ga roumou Aizakku wo batto de oidasu nomo mada no koto,
3.12: vanessy, were sosie sesthers wroth with twone
nathandjoe. Rot a
Yanase 恋は 発条サというものの、ステラれ姉妹 がふたりでに情ナサン男 に
Koi wa Vanessa to iumonono, Sutela-re-shimai ga futarideni Jounasan-otoko ni
い きどお
憤った のは、まだ だった。
ikidootta nowa, mada datta.
＊ソージー・セスターズ
Miyata ヴァネッサ狂いは手段を選ばず だが、双子星 姉妹 が
Vanessa-gurui wa shudan wo erabazu daga, futagosei-shimai (sozi-sesutaazu) ga
一人で二人 相手の多情ジョナサンに怒る のも まだのこと、
hitori de futari aite no tajo-Jonasan ni okoru nomo mada no koto,
3.13: peck of pa's malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by
arclight and rory
Yanase 親父の麦芽をちょっぴり醗酵させたのをジェムかシェ ンがアーク明かりの
Oyaji no bakuga wo choppiri hakkosaseta nowo Jemu ka Shen ga aacu-akari no
じょう ぞう お あか
も とで 醸造し終えると、赤にじむ
moto de jouzou-shioeru to, aka-nijimu
*
Miyata ジェ ムまたはシェンがパパのモルトをたっぷり箱舟 明かりのそばで
Jemu matawa Shen ga papa no moruto wo tappuri hakobune-akari no soba de
* ロ リ ー
醸 造すると、露 を 帯びた赤い
jozo suruto, tsuyu wo obita akai (ro ri i )
3.14: end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome
on the aquaface.
Yanase 虹弓 の 端 が 水面 に弧つぜんと 見えようとしていた。
koukyu no hashi ga minamo ni kotsuzen to mieyou to shiteita.
Miyata 虹の 端 が 水面 に環 を描いて見え るのもまだ先のことだった。
niji no hashi ga suimen ni wa wo egaite mieru nomo mada saki no kotodatta.
3.15: The fall
(bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-
Yanase 転 落 （ババババ ベラガガラバ バボンプティドッヒャンプティゴゴロ
tenraku (bababababa beragagara baba bonputei dohhyanputei gogoro-
ゴロゲギ カミナロン
gorogegi kaminaron-
*
Miyata 落 下 （バババダルガラクタカミナロンコンブ ロントネールロントゥオン
rakka ( bababa daru garakuta kaminaron konburon to neeru ron tuon
3.16:
ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthur-
kon san dadan dada uooruru gaga itte hehehe tooru toruru toronbu-
ロ ンビピッカズゼゾンンドドーッフダフラフクオ オヤジ ジグ
ron bippiikazu zezonn dodooffu dafura fukuo oyaji jigu
Miyata サ ントロヴァルーノースコーントゥーフフールデーネトゥル
san toro varuunoo sukoon tuufu fuuru deene turu
3.17: nuk!) of a once wallstrait oldparr is retaled
early in bed and later
Yanase シャッーン！）、急魚留街 の老仁 の尾話 は 初耳には 寝床 で、のちには
shhauun!), Kyu- Walu-gai no roujin no ohanashi wa shoji niwa nedoko de, nochi niwa
*オール ド・パー
Miyata ヌック！）、かつてのウォール街の老い た若鮭 の 落下 は、
nukku!), katsute no Woalu-gai no oita-wakashake (ouludo-paa) no rakka wa,
早 く は 寝物語 に、 のちには
hayaku wa nemonogatari ni, nochiniwa
3.18: on life down through all christian
minstrelsy. The great fall of the
Yanase 命流く キリシ譚 吟遊史 に語り継がれる。 離壁 の 大潰落
inochinagaku Kirisitan-gin-yushi ni katari-tsugareru. Riheki no daikairaku
*
Miyata クリスチャンの吟遊詩人 によって語り直される。壁 の 大落下
Kurisuchan no gin-yu-shijin ni yotte katari-naosareru. Kabe no dai-rakka
3.19: offwall entailed at such short notice the
pftjschute of Finnegan,
Yanase は たちまち にして ごっ墜男 フィネガンのずってーん落 を
wa tachimachi nishite gottuiotoko Finegan no zutteenraku wo
*
Miyata は 即座 にアイルランドの 堅物 男 フィネガンの落下 を
wa sokuza ni airurando no katabutsu-otoko Finegan no rakka wo
3.20: erse solid man, that the humptyhillhead of
humself prumptly sends
Yanase 巻 き込んで、 頭 んぐり身 が食むしゃら に
makikonde, zunguri mi ga hamushara ni
*ハ ンプ ティ
Miyata 引 き起こし、 彼 の 瘤山 頭 は 知りたがり屋をただちに
hikiokoshi, kare no kobuyama-atama (hamputei) wa shiritagariya wo tadachi ni
3.21: an unquiring one well to the west in quest of
his tumptytumtoes:
Yanase 浅索 好き を 西へと 井戸ませ、 無垢っちょあんよを探し にやらせる。
sensaku zuki wo nishi eto ido-mase, mukuccho an-yo wo sagashi ni yaraseru.
タ ンプティ
Miyata 小山 の 爪 探し へと西 に走らせる。ひっくり返った足の行く先、
koyama(tamputei) no tsume-sagashi eto nishi ni hashiraseru. Hikkuri-kaetta ashi no yukusaki,
3.22: and their upturnpikepointandplace is at the
knock out in the park
Yanase す るとその ひっくり肢ってん場っ点は公園 の 隅ロッキー、どぶリンの
Suruto sono hikkuri shitten-batten wa kouen no guurokki, Dobulin no
う ね いらい
初 いとしいリフィーが く寝って以来、
u-itoshii Lifii ga kunette irai,
*
Miyata 通 行税取り立て門 は公園のノックゲート、そこではデヴリ ン人が初めて
tsuuko-zei toritate-mon wa kouen no nokku-geeto, soko dewa devurin-jin ga hajimete
3.23: where oranges have been laid to rust upon the
green since dev-
Yanase オ レンジたちが 寄りどりち緑 に 赤 さびるままに
orenji-tachi ga yoridori-chimidori ni aka-sabiru mama ni
* *
Miyata リ ヴィを愛して以来、オレンジがグリーンの上に
Livi wo aishite irai, orenji ga guriin no ue ni
3.24: linsfirst loved livvy.
Yanase い草っているところ。
ikusatte iru tokoro.
Miyata 横たわっている。
yokotawatte iru.
Ito's
Notes for Yanase's translation:
Yanase did not put the translator's
notes in
his translation, although he explained the first paragraph a little in Finnegan Shinkoki.
11) Yanase
printed “ruby” or “kana” along every
Chinese character to show pronunciations.
His unique usage of Chinese characters corresponds with the
Joycean
compound words.
reminds the Japanese readers of “war” (senso) by its sound. Yanase's translation
begins with the new Japanese word ”川走” which is not a common Japanese phrase
just as “riverrun” is not in any English dictionary except the OED as a “nonce-word.”
As Yanase explains, many wars are described in Finnegans Wake, the war between
Adam and Eve, between Cain and Abel, between Brian Boru and the Danes, between
Napoleon and Wellington, between life and death, between words, between languages,
etc (FS 95-96). As many Japanese readers often raise a question, “Why did Yanase
make this strange Japanese word, while there is no implication for “war” in the original
word 'riverrun'?” The answer is: Because Yanase translated not only the word but also
Joyce’s “style” here: The word “川走” exemplifies how Yanase translated Finnegans
Wake into Japanese. “礼盃亭” (reihaitei) expresses the double meanings: one is
Franciscan church Adam and Eve, Merchants Quay, the other is the site of Adam
and Eve tavern or HCE & ALP's pub in Chapelizod: “礼拝堂” (reihaido: chapel) + “盃”
(hai: cup or chalice) + “亭” (tei: bower or tavern).
[3.02] “今も度失せぬ” (konmodou-senu) retains the original sound “commodius” because it
is also a Roman emperor’s name. “巡り路” (megurimichi) retains “vicious circle” and
“circular road.” “媚行” (Vico) holds the Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico’s
name by the sound and “love action” by the characters. “巡り” (meguri: to circulate)
is used twice, and “巡り戻る” (megurimodoru) means “to recirculate.”
[3.03] “栄地四囲委蛇” (eichi shii ii) is one way of expressing the sound of HCE, literally
meaning “the glorious land environing the mild waters.” As you see, however, that
does not contain
after the word. “周円” (shuen) suggests “Environs” and its sounds also implies “終
焉” (shuen) meaning “ending” or “death.” Here Yanase suggests the circular
structure of Finnegans Wake, “In the beginning is the end.”
[3.04] In the Sir Trisutram paragraph, Yanase seems mainly to follow William Tindall's A
Reader's Guide to FW. “かの恋の怜人” (kano koi no reijin) literally means “that
wise man of love.” “短潮の海” (tancho no umi) means “the sea of minor or moll,” also
reflecting McHugh's nautical note, “short sea: one with close wave”; Yanase also
implies that “viola d'amore” or “viol of love” is an old musical instrument. This
sentence would have irritated Yanase a little because he cannot follow Joyce's
original word order.
[3.05] He just describes “
[3.06] “
[3.06] “弧軍筆戦” (kogunhissen) is his unique expression of “his penisolate war”: 弧(ko:
[island] “arc”) which responds “凹ぎす地峡” (ougisu chikyo: scraggy isthmus), 軍
(gun) = troops:弧軍[奮闘](kogun[funtou]): to fight a lone hand; 、筆(hitsu) = pen >
penis、戦(sen: war). “ふた旅” (futatabi: 1. again; 2. to travel again or travel twice)
probably suggests “wielderfight:
why Yanase used the Chinese character “旅” (to travel) here. “もうとうに、まだま
だだった” (mou tou ni, madamada datta) echoes “had passencore” (Fr. pas encore: not
yet). The same phrase appears again in “もうまだだった” (mou mada data: nor had
…).
[3.07-08] “topsawyer's rocks” is translated “頭ソーヤー団地” (tou sawyer-danchi)
reflecting Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer. “頭”(tou) means “head” and “団地” (danchi)
is “complex” or “housing estate.” Here Yanase follows Skeleton Key to FW’s
explanation, “Oddly enough there is a stream
seat” (
[3.09] “吾め 割れ目” (wareme wareme) reflects St. Bridget’s Irish saying, “Mishe
mishe” but Yanase uses different Chinese characters in two ways: 1. “吾め”
(wareme: I am); 2. “割れ目” (wareme: woman’s private gap) implying her virginity.
[3.10] “汝パトリック” (nanji Patorikku) literally means “thou art Patrick.” “泥誕”
(deitain) also bears two meanings: 1. peat; 2.birth. “洗礼した” (senreishita)
reflects “baptized” in German as Joyce himself explained in his letter to H.S.
Weaver (Letters I 247-48). “鹿るのちに” (shikarunochi ni) means “though very
soon after” by its sound but Yanase uses the kanji “鹿” (shika) which means
“venison.” Yanase mainly follows the Irish context (not the Old Testament) that
young Parnell (a kid and a cad or cadet) displaced old Isaac Butt in Parliament as
leader of the Home Rule Party (Tindall 31).
[3.12] Yanase implies the love story of Vanessa, Stella and Jonathan Swift.
[3.13] “ジェムかシェン” (Jemu ka Shen) includes Shaun and Shem or John Jameson
& Son Ltd.
[3.15] Adam's fall and Vico's thunder are embodied in a 101 letter word. This sound is
composed of polylingual words for noise and thunder,and for defecation (Tindall 32).
Yanase expresses this with the mixture of various onomatopoeias. The original
thunder sound includes “Kaminari,” the Japanese word for thunder but does not
contain “Humpty-Dumpty,” “wall” and “Oyaji,” the Japanese word for father: those
three words are inflected in Yanase's translation. This is a good example for
explaining Yanase's way of translating Finnegans Wake. He often inserts his own
word plays. In fact, however, Joyce wrote in his notebook (VI.B.11-13:
JJA 31.146), “Jishin, Kaminari, Kaji, Oyaji” (earthquake, thunder, fire, father:
the four terrible things Japanese people traditionally fear).
[3.17] Yanase expresses the stock fall in Wall Street in “急魚留街” (KyuWoalugai) : “急”
(kyu) means “fast or rapid” by the kanji character and “once or old” by the sound;
“魚留” (woalu) means “fish (parr = young salmon) remaining” by the kanji characters
and “Wall” by the sound; “街” means “street.”
[3.19] “ずってーん落” (zutteenraku: [zutteen: Japanese onomatopoeia for falling or sliding
down] + “転落”[tenraku: fall]) applies to “pftjschute” [chute: F chute: fall] +
onomatopoeia).
[3.22] “ひっくり肢ってん場っ点” (hikkuri shitten-batten) is “upturn+pike+point+place.”
[3.23-24] Here Yanase's translation is marvelous: “since devlinsfirst loved livvy” turns into
“どぶリンの初いとしいリフィーがく寝って以来” (Dobulin no u itoshii Lifii ga
kunette irai): “どぶリン” (Dobulin: ditch or Black Pool + Lin); “初い”(ui: “first” by the
character + “lovely” by the sound); “リフィー” (Liffey); “く寝って” bears two
meanings: 1. “寝る” (neru: to lie or sleep with) and 2.”くねる” (kuneru: to bend); 以
来 (irai: since). According to Classical Lexicons to FW, the last word “livvy”
suggests the Roman historian, Titus Livius. Yanase cannot build this element into
his translation. But how can you blame him for it?
Translation
of Miyata's notes:
The locale is Dublin where the Liffey flows: the age setting on Book I, Chapter 1 is long ago, the Age of God according to Vico’s historical division, when many events had not happened yet. “Not yet” suggests that many events described in this chapter can happen in the future. The events and characters involved with them―Tristan, St. Patrick, Parnell, Swift, Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth―referred to in the short paragraphs of the opening page, recurrently appear throughout the text, varying and metamorphosing diversely.
Also in Chapter One, the “four old men,” the prankquean, Finnegan, H. C. Earwicker and his family, etc. appear. The themes and motifs recurring throughout Finnegans Wake, the falls and rebirths of the individual and mankind, wars, sexual crimes, the conflicts between father and son, between brothers, between man and woman, the power struggles, etc. are projected, assuming the characteristic as the overture of the novel.
After stating the locale and the time, the story begins with the fall of thunder and the fall of Finnegan the brickmason. Finnegan, after H. C. Earwicker apparently his later self enters the stage, lies long like the legendary giant Finn MacCool assimilating with the landscape of
[3.01: riverrun] “Kawa wa nagareru”
A noun linked to “the,” the last word of the text; “the stream of a river.” Some
scholars point out that it also reflects the French word, “rêver” (to dream); it can
be also translated, “Yume nosete kawa wa nagareru” (The river runs with a dream).
The river is River Liffey, flowing in
mountain shoulder, about 3 km off from the mountain top of
Wicklow Hills.
[3.01: Eve and Adam's] “Ivu to Adamu Kyokai”
“Adam and Eve Church” is a Franciscan church in the south side of River Liffey.
[3.02: vicus] “
1. A road along Dublin Bay in Killiney, in the Southeast of
2. Vico, Giambattista: an Italian historical philosopher. See Preface.
[3.04: violer d'amores] “Viola-damore”
A stringed instrument used in the eighteenth century: it consists of five or seven
strings and many sympathetic strings.
[3.04: Sir Tristram] “Torisutoramu”
1. Tristan in the legend of “Tristan and Isolde” or Tristram in Sir Thomas Malory's
Le Morte d'Arthur. As for the story, see my explication on Book II Chapter 4.
2. Sir Amory Tristram, the first earl of Howth; born in
[3.05:
[3.07: the stream
A river flowing in
[3.08: gorgios] “giogia-shu”
A state in the South of
[3.08: doublin] “Dabulin”
Not the capital of
claims that this town was founded by a Dubliner, Peter Sawyer (Letters, I, p.247),
but this person remains unaccounted [Annotations]. The local history says
Jonathan Sawyer named the town (Glas[Third Census]).
[3.10: -peatrick] “Petorikku”
1. Peter. See the Bible, Matthew 16.18: “thou art Peter.” [Annotations]
2. St. Patrick (?389-?461), the guardian saint of
March 17. Born in
Christianity.
[3.11: kidcad] “wakazo”
1. Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-91), the leader of the movement of Irish
seat because of adultery with Mrs. Kitty O'Shea. As a boy Parnell was called
‘Butthead.’ [Annotations]
[3.11: isaac] “Aizakku”
Isaac Butt (1813-79), a politician, who was ousted from the leadership of the
Parliamentary Party by Parnell. [Annotations]
[3.12: sosie sesthers] “futagosei-shimai (sozi-sesutaazu)”
Two women related to Jonathan Swift, Esther Johnson (Stella in his works) and
Esther Vanhomrigh (Vanessa in his works): “Esther” means a star (“stella” means
a star in Latin and Italian).
[3.12: nathandhoe] “Jonasan”
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745); a priest of
satirist.
[3.13: Jhem] “Jemu”
1. The Bible: Genesis 9.23. Shem [and Japheth] covered the nakedness of their
drunken father.
2. John Jameson, a great distiller of
[3.13: rory] “tsuyu wo obita akai (ro ri i)”
According to Joyce's own glossary (letter dated
November 1926: Letters I, 248], 1. rory=Irish=red; 2. rory=Latin, roridus=dewy.
It can also imply Rory (Roderick) O'Connor (?1116-98), the last king of
who failed to fight to repulse the attack of the army of Henry II, King of
England
[3.15: The fall…] “rakka…”
1. Thundersound in multilingualism. Vico connected the thundersound to the
primitive men’s consciousness of sin: they considered it as a voice of God.
2. “konnbronn” is associated with [
who reportedly shouted “Merde!” (“Shit!”) during the battle of
Also,
[3.17: old parr] “oita-wakashake (ouludo-paa)”
Old Parr:
1. Thomas Parr who was said to have been born in 1482 and died at the age of
152 in
2. The whiskey named after Parr.
3. An old par of exchange between homeland and foreign countries: it does not
exist in the time of the floating flexible exchange rate system anymore.
[3.18: christian minstrelsy] “Kurisuchan no gin-yu-shijin”
Christy Minstrels is a minstrel show troupe (Whites impersonating Blacks in a
vaudeville) organized by Edwin P. Christy, an American actor.[Annotations, Third
Census and Kenkyusha's Eng-Jap Dic for Gen.Reader]
[3.19: Finnegan] “Finegan”
1. Subject of the ballad “Finnegans Wake”: A brickmason fell from the ladder to
death but returned to life at the wake when he happened to be steeped in
whiskey.
2. Finn MacCool, the Irish legendary hero: Finn led the Knights of Fianna and was
a father of Ossian, the focal figure of Macpherson's poem “Ossian” ‘1765).
[3.20-21: the humptyhillhead of humself prumpty… in quest of his tumptytumtoes]
“kobuyama-atama (hamputei) wa… koyama (tamputei) no tsume-sagashi eto…”
Overlapping the landscape of
Head is superposed on the giant’s head, two hills of Phoenix Park, west of Dublin,
are regarded as his toes.
[3.22: the knock out] “nokku-geeto”
Castleknock Gate, the northeast [precisely “northwest”] gate of
[Annotations]
[3.24: livvy] “Livi”
River Liffey.[Gazetteer]
[3.23: oranges have been laid to rust upon the green] “orenji ga guriin no ue ni
yokotawatte iru]
1. Orange and green, with white, are the colors of the national flag of
Green suggests the aboriginal Irish (mainly Catholics), and orange indicates the
planters from
symbolizes the appeasement of the two.
2. The early populators Tuatha De Danann had groups divided by color: orange
symbolized the craftsmen like blacksmiths and green the free men without big
distinction.
3. Orange Order; an organization founded in
Protestants and the King of
The
above comparison of the first page explains their major
differences.
Careful readers can easily find the
differences of each translator’s interpretation word by word. But
the major differences come from each
translator’s method: Yanase tried to transpose the ambiguities only
with his
translated text as much as possible, while Miyata transposed them using
foot
notes to make the Japanese translation as plain as she could.
Conclusion
Even more than ten years after the publication, the assessments
of Yanase's translation have yet to come down on one side or the
other.
Many Japanese Joycean scholars admired his
accomplishment
while quite a few scholars just ignored it.
One of the earliest reactions was Yong-Gyun Nah's Korean review,
in English Language and Literature, published by the
English Language and Literature Association of Korea
in 1992.
12) Yong-Gyun Nah
actually met Yanase in Tokyo to
express her admiration. In one
interview, Yanase expressed great gratitude towards her (
The
Kanto Joyce Study Group,
So
far, at least three Japanese reviews for Miyata's translation can be
found, all
of which express warm comments for her abridged but readable
translation with
her helpful summaries of each chapter and supplementary notes for the
Joycean
words. An abridged readable translation
with supplementary exegeses explaining the missing parts might be a
good way to
convey the atmosphere and tone of the original text to general
non-English readers.
Comparing these two translations make us reconsider what is the role of
the translator, and what is an ideal translation. It is not
meaningful to decide which is
better, Yanase’s translation or Miyata's.
Miyata’s translation will recruit new Japanese readers of Finnegans Wake, and some of them will
become students and scholars of James Joyce in the future when they
might try
to read Yanase’s translation again, and finally read the original
text.
Yanase’s scholarly translation and Miyata's
understandable translation may be complementary to each other.
Japanese Joyceans can now obtain two great
Japanese all-inclusive references of Finnegans
Wake. Finally, I do hope
that more
wonderful translations will appear around the world.
Special thanks to Prof. Eun-Kyung Chun for her valuable advice and giving me this opportunity.
1) Cf. Eishiro Ito, "The Japanese Elements of Finnegans Wake: 'Jishin, Kaminari, Kaji,
Oyaji.'"
2) Yanase criticized Lavergne's French translation because “… Lavergne put [many] Joycean
words in his translation just as they are in the original; he also overlooked some words to
translate. He did not show us any advantage to use French in translating FW…” (FS 108).
3) Eun-Kyung Chun (
4) See A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: “―The language [English] in which we are
speaking is his before it is mine… His language, so familiar and so foreign, will always be
for me an acquired speech. I have not made or accepted its words” (P 182).
5) Kyoko Miyata's e-mail to Eishiro Ito dated
when reading, the reader consciously or unconsciously makes one choice among mass of
meanings of words and phrases. It is his (the reader's) own portrait, Butor says, which
is left in the tracks of his reading. He implies that the same can be said of translation,
especially of a work like Finnegans Wake.” Cf. also James Joyce, Finnegans Wake:
Fragments Adaptés par André du Bouchet, Introduction de Michel Butor, Suivis de Anna
Livia Plurabelle, p.17.
6) Cf. Kyoko Ono's book review, “Shoyaku ‘Finnegans Wake,’” p. 511.
7) Kyoko Miyata’s e-mail to Eishiro Ito dated
8) The word “clavis universalis” (universal key”) is originally derived from Paolo Rossi's
Clavis Universalis (Napoli: Ricciardi, 1960) as Eco notes (Eco 90). It suggests the
term “used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to designate a method or
general science which would enable man to see beyond the veil of phenomenal
appearances, or the ‘shadow of ideas,’ and grasp the ideal and essential structure of
reality” (Rossi, preface to 1st ed. xv).
9) Kyoko Miyata's e-mail to Eishiro Ito dated
10) Cf. Yong-Gyun Nah's book review, “Yanase Naoki trans. James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
Kawade-shobo-shinsha, 1991,” p.649.
11) See Finnegans Shinkoki, pp.69-70 & 94-97. Most of Yanase's notes for the translation
are found in it. His special comments about the Japanese elements of Finnegans Wake
are included also in it (50 & 72-73) and in Jisho wa Joysufulu (159).
12) Cf. his conversation with Inuhiko Yomota titled “Vaabalu/Politikaru na joisu e”(For
Verbal/Political Joyce), Eureka, vol.30-9, no.406 (July 1998).
13) Cf. “Naoki Yanase: ‘Finnegans Wake’,” Joycean Japan, vol. 6, pp.128-38.
Benstock, Bernard. Joyce~Again's Wake: An Analysis of “Finnegans Wake.”
Burgess, Anthony. A Shorter “Finnegans Wake.”
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Ellen Esrock.
Glasheen, Adaline. Third Census of “Finnegans Wake”: An Index of the Characters and
Their Roles.
Ito, Eishiro. "The Japanese Elements of Finnegans Wake: "Jishin, Kaminari, Kaji, Oyaji.""
Joycean
36-50.
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Ed. Hans Walter Gabler. New
___________. Finnegans Wake. New York: The Viking Press, 1939; repr, 1987.
___________. Finnegans Wake. Trans. Philippe Lavergne.
___________. Finnegans Wake: Fragments Adaptés par André du Bouchet, Introduction
de Michel Butor, Suivis de Anna Livia Plurabelle.
___________. The James Joyce Archive [JJA], vols. 31 & 63. General ed. Michael
Groden.
___________. Letters of James Joyce, vol.I. Ed. Stuart Gilbert. New York: The
Viking Press, 1957.
___________. Ulysses.
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Joyce, James. Shoyaku “Finnegans Wake.” [An Abridged Translation of “Finnegans
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___________. Finnegans Wake. Trans. Naoki Yanase.
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yosete”(book review). Shukan Dokushojin (Readers' Weekly), no.2550 (August
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shinsha, 1991” (book review). English Language and Literature. English Language
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___________. Honyaku wa Jissen dearu (The Object of Translation Is Actual Practice)
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___________. Jisho ha Joysufulu (Let’s En-joyce in Dictionaries)[JhJ].
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