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A review by ayami
Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
4.0
I always enjoy comparing alternative translations of previously read works. This is a collection of selected short stories by Akutagawa, a Japanese author who has been extensively translated in the past. Since all his works are in a public domain, I frequently encounter his short stories incorporated in anthologies or new editions.
For those who are not familiar with Akutagawa: he is one of the most popular and admired short-story writers from Japan, who has produced an impressive body of work despite his short life (he committed suicide at the age of 35). The most prestigious Japanese literary award is named after him. He has also inspired some other works such as [b:Patient X: The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa|36998790|Patient X The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa|David Peace|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525443065l/36998790._SY75_.jpg|57108727] by David Peace.
This collection comprises of some of the Akutagawa's better known stories translated by Bryan Karetnyk such as In a grove, which became an inspiration for Akira Kurosawa's movie Rashōmon). I found this version a bit confusing, to be honest.
I did enjoy some of the other translations, however, especially the title story and the Cogwheels. In case of the latter, I was quite impressed at how well the mood of the original was conveyed in English: the depression, the darkness and the slow and inevitable descent into madness. The Spider's Thread was also pretty well done.
In few of the stories, unfortunately, despite the translations working on the sentence level, they somehow didn't “flow” as nicely as I would like them to and I sometimes had to backtrack to make sure I knew the person speaking at any given time. I've reread some of the Jay Rubin's translations for comparison, and it is Rubin's version of the Hell Screen that will remain my favorite.
What I did appreciate in the Pushkin's edition is the fact that the reader is spared unnecessary footnotes that often disturb the reading process in the older translations of works translated from Japanese.
Overall, I would encourage those who have not read Akutagawa before to check this collection out.
I have received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
For those who are not familiar with Akutagawa: he is one of the most popular and admired short-story writers from Japan, who has produced an impressive body of work despite his short life (he committed suicide at the age of 35). The most prestigious Japanese literary award is named after him. He has also inspired some other works such as [b:Patient X: The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa|36998790|Patient X The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa|David Peace|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525443065l/36998790._SY75_.jpg|57108727] by David Peace.
This collection comprises of some of the Akutagawa's better known stories translated by Bryan Karetnyk such as In a grove, which became an inspiration for Akira Kurosawa's movie Rashōmon). I found this version a bit confusing, to be honest.
I did enjoy some of the other translations, however, especially the title story and the Cogwheels. In case of the latter, I was quite impressed at how well the mood of the original was conveyed in English: the depression, the darkness and the slow and inevitable descent into madness. The Spider's Thread was also pretty well done.
In few of the stories, unfortunately, despite the translations working on the sentence level, they somehow didn't “flow” as nicely as I would like them to and I sometimes had to backtrack to make sure I knew the person speaking at any given time. I've reread some of the Jay Rubin's translations for comparison, and it is Rubin's version of the Hell Screen that will remain my favorite.
What I did appreciate in the Pushkin's edition is the fact that the reader is spared unnecessary footnotes that often disturb the reading process in the older translations of works translated from Japanese.
Overall, I would encourage those who have not read Akutagawa before to check this collection out.
I have received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.