With Robert Blasiak and Stuart Ayre

Date: September 27, 2015 (Sunday)
Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m. (doors open 6:00 for socializing)
Place: Wesley Center, Minami Aoyama (Tokyo) Room 204 (Map) ([url=http://wesley.or.jp/english/access/index.html]http://wesley.or.jp/english/access/index.html[/url])
Fee: No charge

This SWET talk will feature presentations by German-to-English translator (Robert Blasiak) and illustrator (Stuart Ayre) of Kellermann’s 1910 account Ein Spaziergang in Japan (A Walk in Japan), published by Fine Line Press earlier in 2015. The travelogue conjures up the sights, sounds, and smells of a world beyond living memory. When aspiring German author Bernhard Kellermann arrived in late-Meiji-era Japan, he drank deeply of a country in transition, wandering the streets of rural fishing towns, falling in love with village beauties, and spending many an afternoon recording in exquisite detail the performances in local theaters.

Sketch of the illustrator at work, imagined in the historical era of A Walk in Japan. (c) Sketch by Stuart Ayre.

In the first part, scholar and translator Robert Blasiak will explain some of the challenges of rendering a readable and enjoyable translation. Key points will be highlighted with excerpts from the final book A Walk in Japan: The 1910 Travelogue of Bernhard Kellermann. In the second part, SWET member, translator, and illustrator Stuart Ayre will talk about how he translated the words of the book into illustrations and introduce the art that influenced the illustrations. He will also talk about working as an illustrator on a book-illustration project.

A question-and-answer session and mixer will follow the talk at the same venue, and illustrations from the book and other artwork and prints by Stuart Ayre will be on display.