New publication: Translational Engagements with Asian Languages in Premodern Japan
Wakabayashi, Judy
I am pleased to announce the publication of my monograph Translational Engagements with Asian Languages in Premodern Japan.
This book explores a range of Japanese practices used to mediate written and oral encounters with neighbouring cultures from earliest recorded times until the late nineteenth century. The primary focus is on kanbun kundoku, the mainstream approach to Chinese texts for about a thousand years. The book includes a theoretical examination of the status of this practice in relation to conventional translation. It engages critically with insights from Japanese Studies, Translation Studies and related research fields to present the first in-depth analysis of these topics in English or Japanese.
The book can be ordered from the Brill website (https://brill.com/display/title/73042).
Those with an interest in translation might also consider the recently published A Cultural History of Translation in the Modern and Contemporary World, which I co-edited with Yves Gambier, professor emeritus from the University of Turku in Finland. This is the final volume in a six-part series that spans from Classical Societies through to the Postclassical Era, the Age of Cross-Cultural Interaction, the Global World, and the Modern World. Volume 4 (A Cultural History of Translation in the Construction of the Global World; edited by Rebekah Clements), Volume 5 (A Cultural History of Translation in the Emergence of the Modern World; edited by Lena Foljanty, James Thompson and Lieven D'hulst) and our volume all include Japan-related entries.
This series is currently available only as a set (https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/cultural-history-of-translation-9781350171800/), but there are plans to release individual volumes at a later date.
Judy Wakabayashi, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita (Japanese translation)
Kent State University