How has the Nobel Prize Affected the Canonisation of Japanese Literature?

Yıl 2021, Cilt: 27 Sayı: 107, 927 - 942, 06.08.2021

Devrim Çetin Güven

Öz

From the 1950s to the 70s Japanese literature became the most widely read non
European literature in translation in the USA and Western Europe, as such eminent
writers like Tanizaki, Kawabata, Mishima, and Ōe were discovered in English
translation. This discovery encouraged and inspired new translations into other
European and non-European languages that rendered Japanese literature popular
throughout the planet. From the 1990s onward postmodern writers like Murakami
and Yoshimoto rose also to global fame. Interestingly, the common point of all these
internationally acclaimed writers is that they all have histories with the Nobel Prize in
Literature: either they became laureates like Kawabata and Ōe, nominated like Tanizaki
and Mishima; was considered as a Nobel candidate like Murakami, or merely “dreamt”
of winning the prize someday like Yoshimoto. In this article, we treated the complex
relations between Japanese writers and the Nobel Prize, which has become a symbol of
cultural universality. We attempted to answer the following question: how have being
considered a candidate, being nominated, winning, or losing the prize contributed to the
universalisation of these writers?

Anahtar Kelimeler

Nobel Prize in literature, Öe, Tanizaki, Mishima, Murakami

How has the Nobel Prize Affected the Canonisation of Japanese Literature?

Öz

From the 1950s to the 70s Japanese literature became the most widely read nonEuropean literature in translation in the USA and Western Europe, as such eminent
writers like Tanizaki, Kawabata, Mishima, and Ōe were discovered in English
translation. This discovery encouraged and inspired new translations into other
European and non-European languages that rendered Japanese literature popular
throughout the planet. From the 1990s onward postmodern writers like Murakami
and Yoshimoto rose also to global fame. Interestingly, the common point of all these
internationally acclaimed writers is that they all have histories with the Nobel Prize in Literature: either they became laureates like Kawabata and Ōe, nominated like Tanizakiand Mishima; was considered as a Nobel candidate like Murakami, or merely “dreamt”
of winning the prize someday like Yoshimoto. In this article, we treated the complex
relations between Japanese writers and the Nobel Prize, which has become a symbol of
cultural universality. We attempted to answer the following question: how have being
considered a candidate, being nominated, winning, or losing the prize contributed to the
universalisation of these writers?

Anahtar Kelimeler

Nobel Prize in Literature, Öe, Tanizaki, Kawabata, Mishiba, Murakami

Kaynakça

• Güven, D. Ç. (2012). Başka bir “dünya edebiyatı”nın izinde - Ōe Kenzaburō’nun roman yöntemi üzerine. In S. Esenbel, & E. Küçükyalçın (Eds.), Türkiye’de Japonya çalışmaları 1 (227-247), Boğaziçi Üniversitesi.
• Güven, D. Ç. (2018). Zen, hiççilik ve “Üçüncü Dünya” edebiyatı fenomenleri arasında bir kültürel manifesto: Kavabata Yasunari’nin Nobel konuşması. In S. Esenbel, & O. Baykara (Eds.), Türkiye’de Japonya çalışmaları 3 (280-291). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi.
• Güven, D. Ç. (2019). Non-European literature in translation: A plea for the countercanonization of weltliteratur. In E. Esen, & R. Miyashita (Eds.), Shaping the field of translation in Japanese ↔ Turkish contexts I (65-83). Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/ b15594
• Güven, D. Ç. (2020). Doğumunu hatırlayan, ölümünü hazırlayan yazar: Yukio Mişima. Lacivert Öykü ve Şiir Dergisi, 16 (92), 56-59.
• Isoda, K. (1983). 『新潮日本文学アルバム20 三島由紀夫』(Shinchō Nihonbungaku arubamu 20 Mishima Yukio). Shinchō-sha.
• Komori, Y. (2006). 『村上春樹論—「海辺のカフカ」を精読する』 (Murakami Haruki-ron- “Umibe no Kafuka” wo seidoku suru). Heibonsha.
• Macintyre, M. (2012). The strange case of Yukio Mishima: the controversial life and death of one of Japan’s greatest 20th century writer [Film]. BBC Production.
• Mishima, Y. (2001). The decay of the Angel. (E. Seidensticker, Trans.). Vintage. (Original work published 1971)
• Ōe, K. (1995). Japan the ambiguous, and myself—The Nobel prize speech and other lectures. Kodansha International.
• Ōe, K. (2005). 『曖昧な日本の私』(Aimai na Nihon no watashi). Iwanami.
• Ōkubo, T. (2004). 『川端康成:美しい日本の私』（Kawabata Yasunari-Utsukushi Nihon no watashi. Minerva.
• Tanizaki, J. (1995). Some Prefer Nettles. (E. G. Seidensticker, Trans.) Vintage. (Original work published 1929)
• Tomioka, K. (2014). 『川端康成 魔界の文学』(Kawabata Yasunari: Makai no bungaku). Iwanami.
• Yamamoto, K. (1993).【川端康成】(Kawabata Yasunari). In K. Isoda et al. (Eds.)『新潮日本 文学辞典』(Shinchō Nihon bungaku jiten) (pp. 308-312), Shinchō.
• Flanagan, D. (2015, August 29). Mishima, Murakami and the elusive Nobel Prize. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/08/29/books/mishima-murakamielusive-nobel-prize/
• Gee, A. D. (1997, May 9). Fruits of her labor-A writer with Nobel ambitions. Asia Week. http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/97/0509/feat2a.html
• Hijiya-Kirschnereit, I. (2014, January 10). Orchestrating translations: The case of Murakami Haruki. Nippon.com. https://www.nippon.com/en/column/g00144/
• Kelts, R. (2012, October 16). The Harukists, disappointed. The New Yorker. https://www. newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-harukists-disappointed
• Kelts, R. (2013, May 9). Lost in translation? The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/ books/page-turner/lost-in-translation
• Lang, W. (2019, November 23). Let us put an end to Haruki Murakami’s decade-long Nobel Prize pilgrimage. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2019/11/23/ books/let-us-put-end-haruki-murakamis-decade-long-nobel-prize-pilgrimage/
• Mishima, Y. (2009, September 23). 「谷崎潤一郎、58年ノーベル賞候補 三島由紀夫が 推薦状」(Tanizaki Junichirō, 58 nen Noberu Bungaku-shō kōho Mishima Yukio ga suisenjō). Asahi Shinbun Digital. https://web.archive.org/web/20170202041740/http:// www.asahi.com/special/nobel/TKY200909220258.html
• NobelPrize.org. (2021, March 8). The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913. https://www.nobelprize. org/prizes/literature/1913/summary/
• NobelPrize.org. (2021, March 8). The Nobel Prize in Literature 1968. https://www.nobelprize. org/prizes/literature/1968/summary/
• NobelPrize.org. (2021, March 9). Nomination archive. https://www.nobelprize.org/ nomination/archive/
• NobelPrize.org. (2021, March 14). Facts. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1994/ oe/facts/
• The Straits Times. (2015, April 17) Japan must apologise for WWII until it is forgiven: novelist Haruki Murakami. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/eastasia/japan-must-apologise-for-wwii-until-it-is-forgiven-novelist-haruki-murakami
• Yoshimoto, B. (2009, January 1). A little bit about me. Banana Yoshimoto—A Blog. http:// yoshibanana.blogspot.com/2009/01/little-bit-about-me.html