July 4, 2007

SWET Newsletter, Number 116

Contents

• Translating from Japanese to English Burning the Bridge by Michael Emmerich Translator of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction in both classical and modern Japanese by authors such as Yoshimoto Banana, Takahashi Gen¹ichiro, Kawabata Yasunari, and Akasaka Mari, Michael Emmerich holds a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Columbia University. This article was prepared from a transcription of a talk he gave at the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies in February 2007. SWET thanks the speaker and Prof. Henry D. Smith of KCJS for permitting us to publish this article in the Newsletter.
• Remembering Otis Cary Editing Memories in Two Languages, by Beth Cary and Ann Cary In mid-May 2007, the family and friends of Otis Cary met in Kyoto one year after his death to honor his life with the publication of a volume compiled in his memory entitled Otis Cary and His Broad Vision: 1921–2006. Cary taught at Doshisha University and Amherst College, was director of Amherst House at Doshisha, and served as a bridge between the United States and Japan for decades. Daughters Beth Cary, based in California, and Ann Cary, in the Osaka area, both longtime SWET members, contributed these reflections on the experience of publishing a “dual-language” memorial volume.
• SWET Events
  • April Writers’ Café: Glory in the Writing, by Lynne E. Riggs Author of Glory in a Line: A Life of Foujita—The Artist Caught Between East & West, Phyllis Birnbaum joined SWET’s Writers’ Caf— on April 24 to talk about how the book came into being and some of her encounters and adventures in the five-year process of completing what became the first biography of the Japanese painter Foujita Tsuguharu in English.
  • May Workshop: Kathy Morikawa on Self-Publishing, by Bryan Harrell Under the pen name of Wm. Penn, Kathleen Morikawa is the author of The Couch Potato’s Guide to Japan: Inside the World of Japanese TV (see SWET Newsletter No. 112), a book she courageously published on her own with no prior experience in the publishing business. The book is based on a compilation of over 17 years of work on her regular column ”Televiews“, appearing weekly in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper. While ostensibly about Japanese television, the book reveals even more about the society that surrounds it. Divided into clearly defined sections, it is a great book to pick up and read in short bursts, but I found it hard to keep myself from reading it all at once.
• SWET Member News
  • ”Aunt Eva” Reissued: Doreen Simmons interviewed by Kay Vreeland Doreen Simmons has been in Japan since 1973, writing feature articles, editing, acting, recording, and with a sideline as one of the few foreign female Sumo experts, including being a live commentator on NHK¹s worldwide satellite service. (see article in No. 71, A Day in the Life) 1996 to 2003, she kept SWETers on the straight and narrow with her entertaining SWET Newsletter column of solid advice, “Ask Aunt Eva.” The 24 popular “Aunt Eva” columns are still relevant for numerous dilemmas wordsmiths face in their daily work, and still deliver a smile along with sound help. They have been republished in their entirety on the SWET website for both nostalgic and new readers alike. On this auspicious occasion, SWET interviewed Simmons about her stint as an advice columnist. Find the Aunt Eva columns by clicking on Archives at the top of the SWET main page, Newsletter, Newsletter Articles by Category, Ask Aunt Eva.
  • Ryūnosuke Revisited, by Charles De Wolf Charles De Wolf is the translator of Mandarins, an anthology of fifteen short stories by early twentieth-century novelist Akutagawa Ryūnosuke; it will be published in July by Archipelago Books. Also known for his translations from the Heian-period Konjaku monogatari (Tales of Times Now Past) and of other Japanese literary works, classical and modern, including a story by a contemporary Akutagawa Prize winner posted at Words Without Borders, De Wolf is professor of linguistics at Keio University.
• Threads on SWET-L
  • Wordsmithing’s Silver Lining, by Torkil Christensen With its multitude of responses to each and every query, the vast resources of SWET-L not only help and advise, but marshal cultural and technical savvy to reveal the pitfalls that lurk behind seemingly reasonable expectations. The collective wisdom may show wordworkers when it is safe to look askance at clients or better to give them what they want. This digest covers the late 2006 to early 2007 period.
• Book Reviews
  • The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile, by Noah Lukeman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999, by Ginny Tapley. “Lukeman’s advice is pertinent, and even the most experienced of writers and editors will find some useful insights here. Yet ultimately literature— as any artvis a matter of subjective taste. Quite apart from matters of commercial viability, for an editor or agent to take on a manuscript they must be personally dedicated to it. However polished your manuscript is, whether or not it finds its way onto the desk of the right reader is largely luck.”