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Translation as Subversive and Creative Practice: Japanese Literature in Communist Romania

Research Project

Project/Area Number 20K12911
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section Basic Section 02010:Japanese literature-related
Research InstitutionThe University of Tokyo

Principal Investigator

Holca Irina  東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 准教授 (40760343)

Project Period (FY) 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
Budget Amount *help
¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2022: ¥260,000 (Direct Cost: ¥200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥60,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥520,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥120,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
KeywordsJapanese literature / translation theories / communist Romania / relay translation / poetry translation / translation studies / Eastern Europe / China / censorship / poetry anthologies / poetry / historical fiction / realism / other / translation / communism / Romania
Outline of Research at the Start

This project proposes new interpretations for Japanese literary texts-- from classics such as "The Pillow Book" to the proletarian novels of Tokunaga Sunao--, which were made possible via indirect translation into Romanian (from Russian, English, French), against the background of communist ideology and strict censorship, but also as a result of the discrepancies between the theories and practices of translation developed at the time on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project focused on the translation of Japanese literature and the perception of "Japan" in communist Romania. It covered materials related to Japan published in magazines, as well as in book form, analysing the ways in which direct/ relay translation and anthologising from Russian, but also English, French, etc, has shaped the image of Japanese literature/ Japan. In Romania, under communism, the "West" was constantly reviled as "decadent" and imperialistic, but at the same time it was a necessary route of access towards "minority" languages and cultures such as Japan's. As a result, even while western ideologies were being rejected on the surface, Japan's image had to be constructed through a "Western" filter. This research has clarified how Romanian translations of Japanese literature, along with the accompanying discussions about translation methods, acted as a locus of dialogue between East and West.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

This research sheds light on an insufficiently researched side of cultural exchanges, i.e., between "minority" languages and cultures (Japan& Romania) under different ideological regimes (capitalism& communism), analysing how Romania shaped its image of Japan via the ideologically different "West."

Report

(4 results)
  • 2022 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report ( PDF )
  • 2021 Research-status Report
  • 2020 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (20 results)

All 2023 2022 2021 2020

All Journal Article (8 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 5 results,  Peer Reviewed: 3 results,  Open Access: 3 results) Presentation (11 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 7 results,  Invited: 3 results) Book (1 results)

  • [Journal Article] Shimazaki Toson and Christianity: When the Cherries Ripen in the Taisho Period2022

    • Author(s)
      Irina Holca
    • Journal Title

      ”Handbook on Christian Literature in Japan”

      Volume: 0 Pages: 23-41

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] モデルとフィクションの問題系--島崎藤村「並木」とその周辺2022

    • Author(s)
      ホルカ イリナ
    • Journal Title

      『小説のフィクショナリティ--理論で読み直す日本の文学』

      Volume: 0 Pages: 220-236

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Journal Article] <Articles>Real Animals and Where to Find Them: in the Works of Shimazaki Tōson and Shiga Naoya2022

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina
    • Journal Title

      ZINBUN

      Volume: 52 Pages: 87-104

    • DOI

      10.14989/269279

    • ISSN
      0084-5515
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
  • [Journal Article] Sawako Nakayasu Eats Sagawa Chika: Translation, Poetry, and (Post)Modernism2021

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina
    • Journal Title

      Japanese Studies

      Volume: 41 Issue: 3 Pages: 379-394

    • DOI

      10.1080/10371397.2021.2008236

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Minor Exchanges: Romanian Anthologies of Translated Japanese Poetry Published during the Last Decades of the Communist Regime2021

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina
    • Journal Title

      Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views

      Volume: 12-24 Pages: 80-95

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] 震災後文学の動物と書き直し―中森明夫、川上弘美、古川日出男のテクストを中心に―2021

    • Author(s)
      ホルカ イリナ
    • Journal Title

      『環世界の人文学』(岩城卓二、石井美保、田中祐理子、藤原辰史編)

      Volume: - Pages: 119-137

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
  • [Journal Article] Introduction2020

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina, Carmen Sapunaru Tamas
    • Journal Title

      Forms of the Body in Contemporary Japanese Society, Literature, and Culture (Holca& Tamas編)

      Volume: -

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Home Is Where Mother Is, and the Way to a Man's Heart Goes through His Stomach: Bodies in the "Kitchen" (Yoshimoto Banana)2020

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina
    • Journal Title

      Forms of the Body in Contemporary Japanese Society, Literature, and Culture (Holca& Tamas編)

      Volume: - Pages: 73-86

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] An Improbable Pair, in Romanian Translation: Ota Yoko “Until When?” and Takakura Teru “Pig’s Song”2023

    • Author(s)
      Irina Holca
    • Organizer
      Center for Global Research Initiatives Lecture Series
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Human, Non-Human, Animal: The Socialist “New Man” and Japanese Literature in Romanian Translation2022

    • Author(s)
      Irina Holca
    • Organizer
      1st Akita Philosophy Seminar: What Makes Us Human?
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] Japonia si China in Romania Comunista: Intersectii intre socialism si orientalism2022

    • Author(s)
      Irina Holca
    • Organizer
      Academy for Economic Studies, Center for Japanese Studies Lecture Series
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] 他者の言葉を消化する―左川ちかとサワコ・ナカヤスの翻訳と創作2022

    • Author(s)
      ホルカ イリナ
    • Organizer
      「左川ちか2022:新たに開かれる詩/モダニズム/世界」シンポジウム
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Japanese Proletarian Literature in 1950s Romania and the Case of Ota Yoko’s “Doko made”2022

    • Author(s)
      Irina Holca
    • Organizer
      「吼えろアジア! 東アジアのプロレタリア文学・芸術とその文化移転」国際シンポジウム
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Re-Translating Tayama Katai’s Theories and Practices of Description: Between “Byosharon” (“Theory of Depiction”) and Futon (The Quilt)2022

    • Author(s)
      Irina Holca
    • Organizer
      4th East Asian Translation Studies International Conference
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Minor Exchanges: Japanese Poetry Translated into Romanian during the Last Decades of the Communist Regime2021

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina
    • Organizer
      World Literature and the Minor: Figuration, Circulation, Translation International Conference
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Animals of War: Representations in the Graphic Magazines of the Meiji Period2021

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina
    • Organizer
      16th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Murder in the Old Capital: Mizukami Tsutomu's Temple of the Wild Geese2021

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina
    • Organizer
      8th Japan: Pre-modern, Modern, and Contemporary International Conference
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] What Is an “Anthology” of “Literary” “Theories,” and How Do We Translate It?2021

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina
    • Organizer
      3rd Asian Philosophical Texts conference
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] To Sketch, to Depict, to Describe: Realism and Translation in Early 20th Century Japanese Literary Theories2021

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina
    • Organizer
      Association for Asian Studies
    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Book] Forms of the Body in Contemporary Japanese Society, Literature, and Culture2020

    • Author(s)
      Holca Irina, Carmen Sapunaru Tamas共編
    • Total Pages
      299
    • Publisher
      Rowman& Littlefield
    • ISBN
      1793623872
    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report

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Published: 2020-04-28   Modified: 2024-01-30  

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