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just finished The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, which is wonderfully translated by Jay Rubin. just started Hard-boiled Wonderland, and am finding it to be generally mangled by Alfred Birnbaum. reminds me of some of the inferior translations of Dostoevsky, where i spend half my reading time trying to figure out what the original author was trying to say. bad translations piss me off, especially when the material is so brilliant. like i can clearly hear the near idiotic voice of the translator actively mangling the subtle voice of the author, and unfortunately, sir Birnbaum did the only english translation.

i.e: second sentence in the novel, referencing the elevator that the narrator is in : "Or at least I imagined it was ascent." Alfred the eternal fuck confusingly uses "ascent" where "ascending" would naturally work better. making the reader do a double-take and disrupting the flow of the story.

a few pages later: "Yet, supposing that were the case, wasn't it a trifle flighty--not to say inconsiderate--as a choice of expression?" here Birdbum uses "say" rather than "mention," again briefly interupting the natural flow of the novel.

it goes downhill from there.

the two examples i used are pretty blatant errors, though crammed in between the blatant errors are many quieter, mildly annoying problems with birdbum's awful, offbeat, tone-deaf translation.

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i will maintain that to some extent, murakami's voice is muddled due to the translation, which is highlighted by the fact that i read Wind-up Bird immediately before reading this.

it would be unfair to say that birdbum's translation doesn't have it's strong points, however. some of his descriptions are wonderful, and the more i read, the more comfortable i feel with it. (which is undoubtedly helped by the fact that it's the only translation, and is better than nothing.)

i still find much of the translation unnecessary...orwell would kick birdbum in the nuts.

anyhow, here's hoping that Rubin or someone else gives Wonderland a proper translation in the future.

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finished up Hard-boiled Wonderland, read A Scanner Darkly (like, whoah, dudes.), and started The Brothers Karamazov.

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i thoroughly enjoyed it. and well, my argument against birnbaum would be more effective if i actually knew japanese! i need a drink, i think i cut my throat on some of those words i just ate!

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caveman, i think that "identity" is a major theme in Murakami's stories, in an existentialist sort of way. his characters seem to be in flux, identity wise (constantly)...and in that way, viewed from that angle, it more or less works.

and i'm a little over halfway through The Brothers Karamazov as well, and also enjoying it. Dostoevsky's characters are definitely heavier, and this "heaviness" through their relative static states (as opposed to Murakami's characters).

in some ways the difference between the two authors works can be viewed as modernism heavily frosted with existentialist views vs. postmodernism lightly sprinkled with existentialist views. also, i think fried vs. baked works well.

and in other ways, their works are so different that a comparison doesn't really accomplish much aside from amusing me.

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Dracko, watch Blow-up. The film meanders along much like Murakami's novels, which tends to piss people off. there are some interesting ideas in it if you can get past the pace and style. it's definitely worth a watch.

i will be picking up Labyrinths soon.

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damn shrug, that's an impressive collection you got going there.

i like paperbacks too, and there's a nice little independent bookstore about a block away from my house that i like to go to. picked up Borges' Labyrinths over there day before yesterday. i read a lot more now that i've stopped drinking regularly, since i've got more money and energy to do it. if i could quit smoking, my walls would probably resemble yours!