While Natsume Soseki is often regarded as the first great modern Japanese writer, there was one author who preceded him, both in his writing and in his travels abroad. Louis Bravos, a Melburnian Japanese-to-English translator, uses today's post to introduce a man who was a contemporary of, and an influence on, the great Soseki. Read on to find out more...
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Mori Ogai was not the first Japanese
writer-translator - since writing came from China, Japanese writers have always
been translators - nor is he the most famous (that honour would go to Haruki
Murakami), but along with Natsume Soseki, Mori played an important part in
shifting the focus of Japanese literature, in line with the Meiji era policy of
脱亜入欧, a shift in Japanese foreign policy from Asia to Europe.
Mori Ogai
was born Mori Rintaro in Tsuwano, in Iwami Province on February 17th, 1862. The
eldest son of a family of army physicians, he carried on the family trade,
learning medicine, Dutch and western philosophy. After the Meiji Restoration
saw the abolition of the han system
of feudal domains, Mori's family moved to Tokyo, where he began to learn German
- the language of medicine at the time. After enlisting in the army as a
surgeon, he was sent to Germany in 1884. Upon returning to Japan, he began to
publish medical journals, and also started to show an interest in Japanese
literature, publishing short stories, editing a literary journal and producing
translations of European classics by authors including Goethe and Ibsen.
His
literary work is described as "anti-realist", reflecting the emotional
and spiritual rather than the actual. His early works, including The Dancing
Girl and Seinen (The Young Men), bear a resemblance to the work of contemporary
Natsume Soseki, with the added influence of Ogai's time in Germany and his
reading of European classics. Many of his own literary works act as critical
studies of his own translations, particularly in his early career. His later
work veered more towards historical fiction, set in the 17th and 18th century,
as well as some biography and criticism. Takasebune (The Boat on the Takase
River), one of Mori's later works, tells the story of a boat carrying prisoners
from Kyoto to Osaka for exile, and despite cold critical reception at the time
due to its theme of euthanasia, it is now perhaps one of his most famous works.
Mori's work
in English translation is not easy to find - there are some stories in
collections, and large libraries might have ancient copies of one or two of his
novels, but if you can find them, they're a great companion to Natsume Soseki
and give a great insight into Japan as it was opening up to the world. Here's
my pick of the bunch:
1) The Dancing Girl, Mori's first published
story, describing an affair between a Japanese man and a German dancer, is a
sort of Madame Butterfly in reverse. The Japanese man, in Berlin studying, must
choose between his career and his feelings for the dancer, who he has made
pregnant.
2) Mori's
most famous - or perhaps infamous - novel, Vita Sexualis, is an erotic tale of a
philosopher coming to terms with his sexuality. Though banned almost
immediately after its publication on grounds of obscenity, the novel actually
doesn't describe any sex, instead casting a philosophical eye over Meiji Period
moral struggles with sexuality.
3) The Wild
Goose (occasionally translated as The Wild Geese), however, is Mori at his best, and
Finlay Lloyd's beautiful edition of Meredith McKinney's new translation,
published in 2014, allows the subtle nuances of the original to shine. The Wild
Goose is a sort of Meiji Period Lost In Translation, where an old moneylender
sets up house for his young mistress, who, feeling empty, lonely and rejected
in her new world, looks for companionship in a young medical student about to
leave for Germany.
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Another excellent introduction to a great Japanese writer, one who, once again, isn't quite as well known as he might be. I've read a different translation of The Wild Geese, and after looking at Louis' piece, I also tried 'The Dancing Girl' (and enjoyed it!). If anyone has any comments on these, or other, books, you know what to do - comments, please ;)
