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A review by lachesisreads
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō
3.0
Back when I was at university, my main subject was Japanese literature, and I was lucky enough to get to translate some of Basho's work from the original Japanese with the help of an awesome professor (not that I could do it alone, mind). And I absolutely loved it.
Ever since then I've been meaning to read The Narrow Road to the Deep North. But, now that I have, I have to say that having had exposure to the originals actually made the reading experience of this book much worse.
The Japanese language is incredibly rich and nuanced, particularly when it comes to poetry. To name just one example, there's something called, or seasonal word. Those are words expressing images associated with a season, and often a whole panorama of other ideas and/or a very specific setting or concept associated with that season. A well-known example of this is the cherry blossom, which not only tells the reader that the poem is set in spring, but also implies the exquisite sadness at the transience of all things. A Japanese reader (usually) knows and recognizes these and is therefore able to pull a world of meaning from the few syllables contained in the poem. Meaning that is, naturally, completely lost in translation. That's in the nature of things and just means you really ought to get an annotated edition that fully explains the poems if you want to get the full experience.
However, I thought this translation really lacked everything. Japanese isn't a language that lends itself to translation terribly well, but even so, this was disappointing. It felt very lacklustre and humdrum.
And of course the whole genre of Japanese travel sketch is unlike what a western reader would expect from a travel sketch, and unless you know that going in, it's going to leave you scratching your head. This book explains none of it. What it does offer is a bare-bones translation of the work.
I would rate Basho's work 5 stars, but to this translation and edition I really can't give more than 3.
This was also my entry for the category "a classic from Africa, Asia or Oceania" for the Back to the Classics Challenge 2019.
Ever since then I've been meaning to read The Narrow Road to the Deep North. But, now that I have, I have to say that having had exposure to the originals actually made the reading experience of this book much worse.
The Japanese language is incredibly rich and nuanced, particularly when it comes to poetry. To name just one example, there's something called
However, I thought this translation really lacked everything. Japanese isn't a language that lends itself to translation terribly well, but even so, this was disappointing. It felt very lacklustre and humdrum.
And of course the whole genre of Japanese travel sketch is unlike what a western reader would expect from a travel sketch, and unless you know that going in, it's going to leave you scratching your head. This book explains none of it. What it does offer is a bare-bones translation of the work.
I would rate Basho's work 5 stars, but to this translation and edition I really can't give more than 3.
This was also my entry for the category "a classic from Africa, Asia or Oceania" for the Back to the Classics Challenge 2019.