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Access Type
Campus Access
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Comparative Literature
Degree Type
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Year Degree Awarded
2012
Month Degree Awarded
May
Keywords
japanese literature, translation, shusaku endo, nagamasa yamada
Abstract
Shūsaku Endō (1923-1996) is well known in Japan and abroad for his novels and his Christian faith. The present work offers for the first time an English translation of his 1973 play, Menamugawa no Nihonjin, which deals with the career of Nagamasa Yamada, a Japanese adventurer who traveled to Siam in the early seventeenth century and became one of the most powerful men in that kingdom. The introduction to the translation looks back at Endō’s career and his little known relationship with theater. The focus shifts to the play’s historical background, inquiring into Endō’s motivations in choosing this subject and how he manipulated his sources to achieve certain goals. The translation is defended and compared to a previous Italian translation. The analysis of the original work and the process of translating it is informed throughout by M.M. Bhaktin’s concept of chronotopes as used in the field of translation studies by Annie Brisset. The introduction is followed by the translation of the entire play of three acts and twelve scenes.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/2746333
First Advisor
Edwin C. Gentzler