New Genji Translation?

[Carmen]

Has anyone read the new translation of The Tale of Genji?

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/014243714X/qid=1070593446/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-7415448-2615952

I've read the Seidensticker version twice and was really excited to learn a new translation was coming out. I thought that after 27 years, surely some incredible new light would be shed on the story & characters. I thought it would be interesting to see how a "modern" translation might read.

I read the first 10 chapters straight through. Feeling more than somewhat dissatisfied, I sat down and compared the two versions, all 10 chapters, side by side. Here are my gripes:

The pages are so crammed with diagrams, footnotes, brackets and call-outs it's almost impossible to read. Barely a paragraph goes by without the eye being halted by a bracketed word or pointed in a different direction. It's like the USA Today of Genji translations!

To me, the language in the Seidensticker version seems more elegant and "courtly". Relative to that, the dialog in the Tyler version seems "watered down" for lack of a better term.


I took it back to the bookstore and got a refund. Should I give it another chance? Can you change my mind?? What do you think?

Carmen

[Kiyoaki]

Carmen,

Have you tried the Whaley version? It was the first attempt in English. Seidensticker's is a pale version for my money. Whaley's version has a lot of footnotes and translations of poems, but you can ignore them if you don't want the flow of the story interrupted.

Kiyoaki

[Carmen]

I take it you haven't attempted the new version?

I have no problem with footnotes, per se, and in fact read them all. I just object to the over-use of reading aids. I thought all the added "extras" in the Tyler version would be helpful, but after a while the jumble just became annoying.

I would LOVE to read the Waley translation, but I haven't yet found a source for the unabridged version. I'd love to get my hand on an early edition. I understand it was published in six volumes, is that right? Does a Waley version exist as a single volume, like the Seidensticker? It doesn't matter really, I'd just prefer the entire story. Unabridged.

I'll probably give the Tyler version another try. The mere fact that he gave us a new translation at all should be enough for me to read it, I think.

Carmen

[Kiyoaki]

Carmen,

The copy of Whaley's version that I have is a reprint. Perhaps the original was issued in six parts. Mine is a single volume that exceeds a thousand pages (which makes it longer than War & Peace). But even my reprinted version is out of print. You'll need to search under the 'used' category.

I haven't seen the Tyler version, but I have read the Seidensticker translation, which I believe was issued originally as a two volume set with slipcase. I believe the paperback version is a single volume. I wasn't impressed with his version. So much seemed to be left unsaid. Whaley is sometimes criticized for reading between the lines of the original text, but for an English speaker (who has never set foot in Japan), his approach only helps.

Kiyoaki

[Meiji]

I really need to read it sometime...... seriously, I should.


As for versions, I don't know if there is a good English translation yet. The literature piece was supposed to be presented in a more formal and courtly manner, if I'm not that mistaken.


I've heard a lot about "Genji" but never had the chance to actually read it yet.

[sg715]

Whoa, I just want to read ANY version of "The Tale of Genji."

I'll go for the older version, it sounds like a better choice

[HikaruNoGo]

I just won a nice used copy on ebay last week. I didn't think it'd be so thick! After being stuck in ancient Macedonia for months, it's nice to swtich to ancient Japan for awhile.

[Kiyoaki]

To all:

The difficulty of translating "Genji" into English is extreme. In fact the Japanese themeselves had to have the original version 'translated' into vernacular Japanese in order to read it. How much more difficult the job is when translating the Japanese in another language altogether.

Often the Japanese version is obscure to begin with because rarely is there an indication of gender, proper names, or even pronouns, as is the case in English. Then too so much is inferred, rather than concretely stated. That's why Waley's version is successful. He attempts to intuit the missing elements and recast scenes in ligth of those choices. His translation avoids a 'verbatim' approach, which would make such a version tortuous to read.

Kiyoaki