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УДК 81'255.2 Эрих Гавранек
докторант Института японистики; магистр в области сравнительного литературоведения; бакалавр японистики; преподаватель Института японистики Венского университета; e-mail: [email protected]
ЯПОНСКАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА НА НЕМЕЦКОМ КНИЖНОМ РЫНКЕ1
В статье рассматриваются переводы с японского языка на немецком книжном рынке как одной из особых сфер литературного перевода в период с 2000 по 2008 гг. Основанием для исследования послужило понятие «поле» (по Пьеру Бурдьё) и распространение этой идеи у других теоретиков на международном / глобальном поле перевода.
Ключевые слова: глобальное поле перевода; иерархия языков; глобальный перевод литературы; литературные центры; символичный капитал; литературный капитал; немецкий книжный рынок; японская литература.
Erich Havranek
Ph D Candidate (Japanese Studies); M A in Comparative Literature Studies; B A in Japanese Studies; Lecturer (Japanese Studies), University of Vienna; e-mail: [email protected]
JAPANESE LITERATURE IN THE GERMAN BOOK MARKET
This paper examines translations from Japanese as one particular part of literary translations in the German book market in the years between 2000 and 2008. This examination is conducted on the basis of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of fields and the expansion of his ideas by other theoreticians on an international / global field of translations.
Key words: global field of translations; hierarchy of languages; global transfer of literature; literary centres; symbolic capital; literary capital; German book market; Japanese literature.
This paper examines translations from Japanese as one particular part of literary translations in the German book market in the years between 2000 and 2008. This examination is conducted on the basis of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of fields [Cf. 1] and the expansion of his ideas by other theoreticians [Cf. 2-4] on an international/global field of translations.
It can be said that translations open regions which are defined by language barriers to the literary distribution and literary reception. These
1 Статья печатается в авторской редакции.
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opened regions constitute the global market for translations which can be interpreted as a field in the sense of Bourdieu's field theory. This field is structured hierarchically by the relative importance of the respective languages. The languages can, therefore, be divided in dominant (or central) languages and dominated (or peripheral) languages [5, p. 7-8]. Heilbron differentiates between one hyper-central language (English) which has a share of 55-60 % of the global trade of translations, central languages (French and German) with a share of 10 %, semi-central languages which are 7 to 8 differing languages that have a share of 1-3 % (e. g. Spanish, Russian, Italian, etc.) and peripheral languages which all other languages that have a share of less than 1 % [3, p. 20]. Some general observations of global field can be made: The global exchange of translations is part of the bigger topic of cultural transfer; it is reflecting the hierarchy of the global market to a certain extent; the direction of the flow of translations is mainly from central to peripheral languages; and the translation from a peripheral to another peripheral language is rare, and often made via a central language (acting as vehicular language) [5, p. 9].
However, dealing with literary fiction, using only quantitative measures is inappropriate. Casanova has written about the specific problems of literary fiction in the global field of translations [2]. In this case prestige or in Bourdieu's terms symbolic capital or literary capital play an important role. Taking literary capital into account, a polycentric structure of the global field emerges, centres of the publishing world of certain areas are New York, London, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon / Sao Paulo, Berlin - cities that dominate their language area. These centres have certain criteria in common. They have a long literary tradition, a sophisticated literary language, a differentiated system of genres, universally recognised "classics", a fully developed system of literary institutions (specialized press, renowned publishing houses, academies, libraries), an educated reading public, and a large amount of exported translations (extraduction) as well as imported translations (intraduction) [5, p. 10]. Considering these criteria, for example Moscow or Tokyo can / must be considered as centres as well.
As the field of translations is a space where cultural and symbolic goods are traded, there is often no immediate economic gain. The costs of publishing translations are always higher than the costs of publishing an original of the domestic language. Therefore, governments intervene and support translations, especially the export of translations. For
governments translations can fulfil certain functions. They help to exert political influence, to create a (cultural) hegemony, to penetrate markets, to construct a (favourable) identity / image, to disseminate the language and culture, to accumulate symbolic capital, to attract interest in further translations, and to gain economic profits in the future [5, p. 11].
After these theoretical considerations, the focus shall now be shifted to the situation of Japanese literature in the German book market. The language, the writing system, and many unfamiliar cultural concepts make it a very challenging task to introduce a Japanese literary work to foreign readers. Yet, the foreignness of Japanese culture generates a certain interest in its literature among the reading public of German-speaking countries. Still, Japanese literature, in order to be recognised, needs the help of intermediaries, promoters, sponsors, and chance.
An overview of the situation of Japanese literature in the German book market at the beginning of the 2000s is presented in the table below. For comparison, the most important source language (English) of translations in the German book market, as well as another East Asian language (Chinese), are included.
Table 1
Number of translations into German by source languages and percentage of the total number of translations
Year Japanese English Chinese
1999 72 (0.9%) 5461 (71.9%) 13 (0.2%)
2000 51 (0.7%) 5519 (72.3%) 18 (0.2%)
2001 124 (1.3%) 6924 (74.1%) 12 (0.1%)
2002 23 (0.4% 3782 (70.0%) -
2003 33 (0.4%) 3732 (49.3%) 9 (0.1%)
2004 87 (1.6%) 3073 (56.8%) -
2005 35 (0.6%) 3691 (60.2%) 31 (0.5%)
2006 52 (0.9%) 3785 (65.6%) 14 (0.2%)
2007 52 (0.8%) 4130 (67.1%) 19 (0.3%)
2008 105 (1.4%) 4908 (66.9%) 28 (0.4%)
Source: BBZ 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 [6; 7].
Until 1999, Japanese literature never had a higher share than 0.5 percent of all translations. The year 1999, however, marks a noteworthy change with a record high of 0.9 percent. Although there was a drop in
2002 and 2003, there were other peaks in 2001, 2004, and 2008, and after
2003 the share was never below 0.4 percent.
Though these figures are mainly due to best-selling authors like Murakami, there were numerous smaller initiatives to present Japanese authors to a German-reading audience. These initiatives are often not self-sustainable and are therefore dependent on support. The two most important institutions which offered support were the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunka-cho and the Japan Foundation (Kokusai koryu
kikin H^^^S^). The Agency for Cultural Affairs operated the Japanese Literature Publishing Project (JLPP), which granted funds for the translation and publication of selected Japanese authors in foreign languages. The original project was founded in 2002 and ran until 2012. Its aim was to support the international publicity of modern and contemporary Japanese authors. It was managed by the NPO called J-lit Centre which acquired the rights of Japanese literary works and published lists of these works. The lists offered information of works for which the JLPP offered support for the translation and publication. The J-lit Centre offered to reduce the risks for publishing houses by employing, paying and controlling translators as well as brokering contracts and buying 2000 copies of the produced translation for 70 percent of the sales price. These 2000 copies were distributed for free to cultural institutions (e. g. libraries). Other activities were the sponsoring of the participation in international book fairs, readings and promotional tours for Japanese authors as well as organising courses for Japanese to English translators [7].
The project focused on four languages: English, French, German and Russian. Thus, for the Japanese government only these four languages were deemed as central for gaining symbolic capital and as key to profitable markets. The aim of the JLPP therefore was consecration by the translation into central languages and the construction of a (favourable) national identity by controlling which works would receive support for a translation [7].
The Japan Foundation on the other hand supports translations into languages with few speakers, and books that do not promise commercial
success. The works need to have a thematic relation to Japan. The Japan Foundation carries 40-60 percent of the cost for the translation and 25-50 percent of the costs for book production. It also publishes lists of works whose translation is supported, annually award a prize best literary translation from Japanese to German, and publish information magazine about the Japanese book market called Book News. This magazine is an important source of information in English as foreign publishers still know little about the Japanese publishing world [9].
The focus of the Japan Foundation is therefore slightly different than that of the JLPP. It aims at presenting Japanese and Japanese literature as central. Disseminating the language and the culture as well as accumulating symbolic capital in this way provides the opportunity of opening new markets, constructing an identity, creating a cultural hegemony and, in the long run, exerting political influence.
Publishing houses make use of these programmes and produce publishing series of Japanese literature. Many of these publishing series were founded in the end of the 1980s and at during the 1990s. This can be attributed to the wide interest in Japan due to the country's ongoing economic boom by the end of the 1980s. Shortly after, in 1990, Japan was guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair and, in 1994, Öe Kenzaburo was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This led to a considerable increase in translations of Japanese literature. Between 1988 and 1994 the amount of translations from Japanese to German rose by 54.7 percent compared to the number of translations published from 1868 to 1987 [10]. Examples of publishing series include Japanische Bibliothek (Japanese Library) (1989-2000) edited by Hijiya-Kirschnereit for Insel Publishing and Japan Edition founded in 1992 by Jürgen Berndt at Quintessenz Publishing and continued from 1994 on by editor Eduard Klopfenstein and since 2004 published by Be.bra Publishing.
Be.bra Publishing with its series Japan Edition is an example of a publishing house tapping into the market for the support of cultural exchange. Be.bra is a mid-sized publishing house. The editor of the Japan Edition is Eduard Klopfenstein, a renowned Japanese Studies and Japanese literature expert, who is at the same time the director of the German part of the JLPP. The JLPP plays an important role in financing the Japan Edition. Until 2008, eight works of JLPP list for the German market were published and of these six were published in the Japan Edition by Be.bra.
An example for a publishing house focusing Japanese literature is Cass Publishing. It is a small publisher run by the Japanologist and translator Katja Busson. It was founded in 2000 and concentrates on Japanese mystery fiction. Katja Busson won the translations award of the Japan Foundation in 2006 which offered publicity and prestige for her enterprise. Until 2008 none of the 4 works were supported by either by the JLPP or the Japan Foundation. However, the focus on popular fiction and the quality of the translations, marked by the award of 2006, made the this publisher relatively successful. A high number of positive reviews in newspapers also attests to this.
Apart from these small and mid-sized projects to publish Japanese literature, the importance of the author Murakami Haruki from the year 2000 on cannot be underestimated. One aspect in the history of the reception of the author works deserves attention here because it involves the introduction of the author to the wider public. It was the controversy sparked by the heated discussion about the novel Gefährliche Geliebte in the literary TV show Das Literarische Quartett. Siegrid Löffler, one of the presenters, characterised the style of Murakami as 'literarisches Fastfood' ('literary fast food') and took offence at the explicit sex scenes. Marcel Reich-Ranicki, another one of the presenters, defended the novel and attacked Löffler personally. The TV show was soon afterwards discontinued, but more important was that it raised questions about the practice of translating Japanese authors from the English version to German. Until then it was a common practice to reduce the costs for translations from Japanese to use the vehicular language English. This was also the case with Gefährliche Geliebte and the Japanologist Herbert Worm showed that this in part caused the criticism of Murakami's style [11]. From this time on, however, this practice was abandoned, the importance of Japanese translators rose and Murakami became the best-selling Japanese author in Germany.
In conclusion it has to be said that Japanese literature is still in a peripheral position in the German book market. It is, however, an example of the polycentrism of the global field, because it has the characteristics of a literary centre [2]: it has a long literary tradition, a sophisticated literary language, a differentiated system of genres, universally recognized "classics", a fully developed system of literary institutions (specialized press, renowned publishing houses, academies or libraries), an educated reading public, and a large amount of translations.
Considering the slight but stable improvement during the 2000s, Japanese literature is also an example for the success of government
sponsored programmes. Especially the JLPP contributed to greater publicity of Japanese literature.
Whether it is best sellers or small projects, translators always play a very important part in the reception of a foreign-language author. As the Murakami controversy shows, the status of authors in a foreign book market is closely tied to the work of translators. Their work does not only have an impact on individual authors but also on the image of the literature of a nation. Therefore their role is also essential in the process of conveying literature of different languages to the book market they are working in.
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