Norwegian Wood English Translation

[Myz Headlee]

Thisnovel is set in late 1960s Tokyo during a period when Japanese students, like those of many other nations, were protesting against the established order.[5] While it serves as the backdrop against which the events of the novel unfold, Murakami (through the eyes of Watanabe and Midori) portrays the student movement as largely weak-willed and hypocritical.

Norwegian Wood was hugely popular with Japanese youth and made Murakami something of a superstar in his native country (apparently much to his dismay at the time).[7][8] During the height of the popularity, Murakami would even leave Japan for a time.

The original Japanese title, Noruwei no Mori, is the standard Japanese translation of the title of the Beatles song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".[9] This song is often described in the novel, and is the favorite song of the character Naoko. Mori in the Japanese title translates into English as "wood" in the sense of "forest", not the material "wood", even though the song lyrics refer to the latter. Forest settings and imagery are significant in the novel.

37-year-old Toru Watanabe is landing in Hamburg, West Germany, when he hears an orchestral cover of the Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood". He is suddenly overwhelmed by feelings of loss and nostalgia. He thinks back to the 1960s, when so much happened that touched his life.

Watanabe, his classmate Kizuki, and Kizuki's girlfriend Naoko are the best of friends. Kizuki and Naoko are particularly close and feel as if they are soulmates, and Watanabe seems more than happy to be their enforcer. This idyllic existence is shattered by the unexpected suicide of Kizuki on his 17th birthday. Kizuki's death deeply touches both surviving friends; Watanabe feels the influence of death everywhere, while Naoko feels as if some integral part of her has been permanently lost. The two of them spend more and more time together going for long walks on Sundays, although feelings for each other are never clarified in this interval. On the night of Naoko's 20th birthday, she feels especially vulnerable and they have sex, during which Watanabe realizes that she is a virgin. Afterward, Naoko leaves Watanabe a letter saying that she needs some time apart and is quitting college to go to a sanatorium.

These events are set against a backdrop of civil unrest. The students at Watanabe's college go on strike and call for a revolution. Inexplicably, the students end their strike and act as if nothing had happened, which enrages Watanabe as a sign of hypocrisy.

Watanabe visits Naoko at her secluded mountain sanatorium near Kyoto. There he meets Reiko Ishida, an older patient there who has become Naoko's confidante. During this and subsequent visits, Reiko and Naoko reveal more about their past: Reiko talks about the cause of her collapse into mental illness and details the failure of her marriage, while Naoko talks about the unexpected suicide of her older sister several years ago.

When he returns to Tokyo, Watanabe is distracted by his continuing thoughts about Naoko, and unintentionally alienates Midori by moving to a suburb without telling her. He writes a letter to Reiko, asking for her advice about his conflicted affections for both Naoko and Midori. He does not want to hurt Naoko, but he does not want to lose Midori either. Reiko counsels him to seize this chance for happiness and see how his relationship with Midori turns out.

Norwegian Wood has been translated into English twice.[1] The first translation was by Alfred Birnbaum, who translated several of Murakami's earlier novels, and was published, in Japan only, in 1989 by Kodansha as part of the Kodansha English Library series.[10] Like other books in this pocket-sized series, the English text was intended for Japanese students of English, and the book featured an appendix listing the Japanese text for key English phrases encountered in the novel. This edition kept the two-volume division of the original Japanese version and its color scheme, the first volume having a red cover, the second green (the first UK edition in 2000 also kept this division and appearance). This earlier translation has been discontinued in Japan.

The second translation, by Jay Rubin, is the authorized version for publication outside Japan and was first published in 2000 by Harvill Press in the UK, and Vintage International in the United States.[1]

The two translations differ somewhat. There are differences in nicknames: Watanabe's roommate, for example, is called "Kamikaze" in the Birnbaum translation, and "Storm Trooper" in the Rubin translation.

Upon release, Norwegian Wood was generally well-received. Globally, the work was received generally well with Complete Review saying on the consensus "Almost (but not quite) all are very enthusiastic.".[12]

A film adaptation directed by Tran Anh Hung was released in Japan in 2010. The film stars Kenichi Matsuyama as Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi as Naoko, and Kiko Mizuhara as Midori.[13] It was presented at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. Jonny Greenwood wrote the score for the film.[14]

This article is an expanded version of an article first posted as "The forest for the trees: Murakami Haruki's "Norwegian Wood/s". It also draws from "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" stories and "Kafka on the Shore".

Murakami Haruki's principle translators have been Alfred Birnbaum, followed by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel. Kodansha's and Knopf's promotions of Birnbaum's translations in the late 1980s created a huge demand for more Murakami in English. When Rubin's translations came out, readers familiar with Birnbaum's couldn't believe their ears.

Had Murakami changed, or lost, his voice? Not quite. All that has changed are the voices of the translations. Murakami's voice remains lost in translation, but book reviewers and readers don't know this. Birnbaum's style bears no resemblance to Murakami's. Rubin, while noting the "clean rhythmicality" of Murakami's style and the "exaggerated hipness" in Birnbaum's (and "to a lesser extent" in Gabriel's) translations, has also turned a deaf ear to Murakami's voice.

murakami has had two main translators: alfred brinbaum & jay rubin. i think i prefer birnbaum's translations to rubin's. the books that rubin has translated don't flow as well for me as the birnbaum translations. of course, that also begs the question of how an author's writing style changes over time.

There are two variables at play here: writing style and translation standards. The problem is whether the different flows of Birnbaum's and Rubin's translations stem from (1) disparities in their standards of translation, or (2) changes in Murakami's style.

To determine disparities in translation standards, we have to compare Birnbaum's and Rubin's versions of the same Murakami story, with the original and with each other. To determine whether Murakami changes his style, we need to compare the originals of two stories, or English versions translated to the same standards of style as the originals. To evaluate both variables simultaneously, we need two originals and Birnbaum's and Rubin's translations of each.

Readers who have discovered both the Birnbaum and Rubin versions are typically confused. How could two translations be so different? Many people prefer Birnbaum's versions, possibly because they discovered Murakami through Birnbaum's translations of his earliest novels, especially A Wild Sheep Chase (1989), Birnbaum's heavily edited and degraded version of Hitsuji o meguru bōken (r߂` 1982).

Others -- like the blogger -- who have read Murakami's earlier novels, most translated by Birnbaum, and later novels, many translated by Rubin, think Birnbaum is more readable, but suspect there may be more to the picture.

All this begs the question, though, of whether, if one were to read Birnbaum's and Rubin's versions of the same Murakami story, how much would they differ? Would one be better than the other? Would even the better one be good?

The most striking feature of the public discussion about the quality of the English translations of Murakami's stories, is that those who dominate the reviews and forums on the web, and the pages of The New York Times and literary journals, have no way of answering such questions, since they admit they can't read Japanese. And who can trust what the translators and even Murakami might say on publisher websites?

Rubin will not directly claim that his translations are better than Birnbaum's. He will say that Birnbaum likes to jazz things up. Or he will point out, as he did at the end of the Translator's Note in the back of Norwegian Wood, that Alfred Birnbaum's earlier translation had been published in Japan "with grammar notes in back, to enable students to enjoy their favorite author as they struggled with the mysteries of English," and that "the present edition is the first English translation that Murakami has authorized for publication outside Japan."

Copies of Birnbaum's translations of Murakami's earliest novels are hot and very pricy on the global antiquarian book market and on Internet auctions sites. Not a few people want them because the rumor is out that Birnbaum's "jazzy" translations are more readable if not closer to Murakami's voice. But are they?

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The plane completes its landing procedures, the NO SMOKING sign goes off, and soft background music issues from the ceiling speakers. Some orchestra's muzak rendition of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood." And sure enough, the melody gets to me, same as always. No, this time it's worse than ever before. I get it real bad. I swear my head is going to burst.

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