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Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami released his latest book in his home country last year and within the first week over one million copies had been sold.
The English edition, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, was translated by J Philip Gabriel, professor of East Asian studies at the University of Arizona, and will be released in August. Gabriel, who has translated several of Murakami’s books, spoke to The Times of India about the process.
“The order of information in Japanese is often nearly the reverse of English, I sometimes feel I’m giving away the punch line too soon when I translate a Japanese sentence into English,” says Gabriel, adding that, “Cultural differences are the most difficult to get across in translation.”
Haruki Murakami is a translator himself and has translated American writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, J. D. Salinger, Raymond Carver and John Irving into Japanese. “Murakami understands and appreciates the challenges of working between English and Japanese. He is always generous with his time. When I have questions, I run these by Murakami via email and he responds quickly to any parts I have trouble with. Murakami and/or his staff read through the first draft of my translations and make suggestions and changes,” says Philip. Murakami’s works have been translated into more than 40 languages and have featured on the bestselling lists across the world, from South Korea to Australia, Italy, Germany and China.
Vintage Books shared the trailer for Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage this week:
Click here to view the embedded video.
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Murakami will launch the book at the Edinburgh International Book Festival:
The Guardian-sponsored festival, which will run from 9-25 August in Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square Gardens, has announced a stellar line-up of authors for this year’s programme. As well as the translation of Murakami’s Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, which sold a million copies in Japan in its first week of publication, and Amis introducing The Zone of Interest, there will be book launches from Sarah Waters and Will Self, while short-story writer Lydia Davis will be making her first visit to the UK since winning the £60,000 Man Booker International prize. There will also be a rare public appearance from Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai as part of the festival’s schools programme.
Book details
- Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
EAN: 9780099590378
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Image courtesy tsunago Japan