My thoughts on the Japanese novel The Great Passage.
I also thought while editing that perhaps this translation felt different because of the translator’s choice to leave common Japanese words untranslated, which was a unique and welcome facet to the reading experience. Something fun to think about.
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The premise of this book really appeals to me as a language student. Japanese uses such a different language system that it would be really cool to think about how a Japanese dictionary differs in production from an English dictionary. That’s too bad about the relationships. I’ve never been able to get into Anime (does Avatar count?)
Absolutely agreed with everything you’ve said here! I loved the attention to language and words within this novel.
I read this book in February, and really enjoyed it. It was interesting to read it shortly after reading The Professor and the Madman and to think about the construction of English language dictionaries and Japanese language dictionaries. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the story and the lightness of the prose. Really hoping I can find more Japanese translated works like this one.
I read this book last year! It was delightful and it was distinctly different from other Japanese literature I’ve read. I think I was in the middle of reading it when it struck me that this book was basically like a slice of life anime but in novel form.