Accepted Paper
Paper short abstract
The paper will focus on the intertextual relationship between Tawada’s trilogy and her earlier work Memoirs of a Polar Bear, with a stress on the problem of translation from animal languages. I will discuss whether her narrative can be read as a translation and whether it usurps the source language.
Paper long abstract
Tawada Yoko’s trilogy (Scattered All Over the Earth; Suggested by the Stars; and Archipelago of the Sun) features characters who speak various languages. It is worth noting that the names of some of the characters, including two of the main protagosits, Knut and Nanook, are reminiscent of polar bears, especially if one takes into account the fact that “Knut” is precisely the name of one of the polar bears in her own celebrated work Memoirs of a Polar Bear. The novel Memoirs of a Polar Bear has been interpreted as a kind of “translation” of the polar bear’s narration. The “translation” of animal language is always accompanied by ethical questions such as: Can it truly convey the inner thoughts of animals, or is it merely an appropriation of their voices?
In my paper, drawing analogies between Tawada’s trilogy and her earlier works, I will discuss the questions whether her narrative can be read as a translation; what is the relationship between this translation and the translation from animal languages; and finally, how does such a translation deal with the risk of usurping and appropriating the source language.
| Abstract in Japanese (if needed): | 様々な言語を話す登場人物の語りという設定で構成される多和田葉子三部作（『地球に散りばめられて』『星に仄めかされて』『太陽諸島』）においては、クヌートやナヌークという、白熊を思わせる名前の人物が登場する。「クヌート」は多和田の代表作である『雪の練習生』に登場する白熊の名前でもあり、『雪の練習生』は白熊の語りの一種の「翻訳」と言える。動物のことばの「翻訳」には、動物の内面を語ることができるのか、動物の語りの簒奪ではないのかという倫理的問題が常につきまとう。そこで、動物のことばの「翻訳」や簒奪という観点と関連させて、三部作の語りについて考察したい。 |
The Narrative Composition of Tawada Yoko’s Trilogy