Jan. 30 Response - Gisele

       Ken Liu's talk was very engaging as a result of his charismatic personality and passion for literary translation. I found his entire perspective on translating really inspiring and I hope to one day obtain his level of security and confidence in writing. I appreciated the way he described translation as an extension of the original text rather than a word-for-word recreation; Liu made me realize that fidelity is much more dynamic than taking a metaphrase approach to translation. I especially liked when used actors and playwrights as an analogy for translators and writers, it put the process of translation in perspective. Translation as a "service" is a wonderful way to think of it, and I know intend on keeping that in mind for the future. 

    I've read "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" before, in fact, it was the very book that introduced me to 'magical realism' and translated literature. As a result, I had some idea of Haruki Murakami's writing and his habit of over-sexualizing women when I began reading "Creta Kano." Therefore, his overt descriptions of sexual violence, though shocking at first, unfortunately, didn't seem uncharacteristic of Murakami. Aside from that, I think Gitte Hansen's decision to refer back to "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" for Creta Kano's name was really interesting, not only because it as it was a nice example of collaboration, but also because it probably contributed to consistency throughout Murakami's Engish translations. I knew I'd recognized the name "Creta Kano," and after reading the translator's note I felt a wave of satisfaction come over me when he mentioned her appearance in "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle," an experience I am sure many of Murakami's readers must have as a result of Hansen's well thought out decision.  

    Personally, this was my first introduction to Hiromi Kawakami's work—and I loved it! I found her stories incredibly funny and beautifully absurd. As pretentious as that sounds I really have no other way to go about it—her writing was incredibly engaging. In reading Kawakami's work I began to wonder what the process of translating "absurdity" is like—do translators ever question what they've just read? Does having such an out-of-this-world setting and characters make it difficult to find the right words to create the same feelings and sensations one might get from the original? Having Ted Goossen's interview alongside the stories helped me understand how I should read Kawakami's work, had I not had them I might've been inclined to question things, like the timeline or fantastical characters, that were supposed to be accepted as part of the collection's dreaminess.