2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Translation as Subversive and Creative Practice: Japanese Literature in Communist Romania
| Project/Area Number |
20K12911
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
ホルカ イリナ 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 准教授 (40760343)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | translation studies / communist Romania / Japanese literature / censorship / poetry / historical fiction / realism |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In 2021 I expanded my scope to include an analysis of poetry anthologies and the role played by the mediation of European "major" languages& cultures in the exchanges between "minor" languages& cultures such as Romania and Japan.I presented the results of my research under the title "Minor Exchanges: Japanese Literature Translated into Romanian during the Last Decades of the Communist Regime” at the "World Literature and the Minor" (5-7 May) conference organized by KU Leuven. This work was published in "Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views 12-24" (December 2021).
I also spoke on "The Paradox of Socialist Realism: Japan and the Orient as (Improbable) Tropes in Romanian Historical Fiction" at the "Impossible Fictions" (Mar.2-5, 2022) conference organized at U. of Chicago.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Due to the Covid19 pandemic I was unable to travel back to Romania to conduct archival research this year, too. As the library of the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center of Hokkaido University continues to be closed to the public, I had to postpone once again my plans to travel to Sapporo to look at their archives and discuss with colleagues working on the region. Book deliveries from abroad are delayed, so I had to resort to alternative methods for conducting research on original materials, e.g., commissioning scans (which is expensive and time consuming) or using internet databases, which are insufficient when it comes to the Romanian literature of the period in question.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I plan to present on "(Re)Translating Tayama Katai’s Theories and Practices of Description: Between "Futon" and “Byosharon” at the 4th East Asian Translation Studies conference (30 June-2 July, Universite Paris Cite).
I am also working on a paper on "Traslation and Propaganda: The Translation of Japanese Proletarian Literature in 1950s Romania" for the "Roar Asia! Proletarian Art and Literature in East Asia and their Cultural Transfer" conference (Ritsumeikan University, July 30-August 1).
In October, I intend to organise a workshop titled "Japan in Eastern Europe, 1930-1980," with invited scholars presenting on the construction of Japan's image in East European countries during communism. This workshop is a first step towards expanding my current project to cover a wider area in future.
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| Causes of Carryover |
As I was not able to travel during the first two years of the project because of the COVID19 pandemic, I could not use the funds allocated to travel expenses, and would like to do so during this academic year (2022).
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Research Products
(7 results)
