Japanese writer Yoko Tawada will interact with Vietnamese readers

Organized by the Vietnam Women's Publishing House and the Japan Foundation, the exchange event with writer Yoko Tawada had the participation of critic Pham Xuan Nguyen, PhD in literature Ho Khanh Van - Deputy Head of the Faculty of Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City.

2 translated works by Yoko Tawada

In addition, translators who have worked with Tawada's works will also participate in the exchange. They are translator Nguyen Do An Nhien - Master of Cultural Language at Meio University and Nguyen Thi Ai Tien - Doctor of Japanese Language and Culture at Osaka University who participated in translating the story collection Hien Dang Su.

Translator Nguyen Thanh Tam - PhD in Translation Theory from Kobe University, who translated the novel Bare Eyes - will also participate in the discussion.

The event is expected to last 2 hours with many topics. In the first part, writer Yoko Tawada will talk about her feelings about the crisis of humanity through the question: Who is the “Hien Dang Envoy”; from there, discuss more deeply about where her literature stands, between humor, tragedy and philosophy?

Other discussions surrounding her extended novel also touched on the question of what happened at Mount Babel, based on a short story of the same theme in The Envoy , as well as the metamodern character of Yoko Tawada's writing.

Part 2 will be a discussion on the translation of the female writer's works. Translators and critics will talk about the difficulties, challenges and concerns in fully reproducing the author's experiments, originality, deconstruction and postmodern tendencies.

Larger questions about the future of imagination, of humanity, and of Japanese (female) writers in the global space are also discussed, as more and more writers from this country gain international reputations.

Three important female writers of modern Japanese literature, including Amy Amanda, Yoko Tawada and Banana Yoshimoto

In recent times, modern Japanese women's literature has a unique triangle of female heroes. That is the "peak" Banana Yoshimoto, carrying the mysterious transparency of everyday melancholy that smolders inside like warm onsen streams hidden underground.

That is the "peak" Amy Yamada dyed with hot, fierce, and violent colors in love like the Shiretoko Goko Five Lakes born in the midst of volcanic eruptions and land subsidence.

As for the "peak" of Yoko Tawada, covered in snow on Fuji, calmly smiling at the bustling world below, it brings a feeling of coldness, chilliness and sorrow, from which one can calmly contemplate the philosophy of human existence.

According to critics, reading Yoko Tawada's literature, we see the image of Athena - the goddess born from Zeus' forehead - revealed in the words and narrative structure, in the rich, strange, and intelligent imagination.

There we see the thread of connection flowing from the magnificent postmodern ironic tragedy of Franz Kafka combined with the profound philosophy of Yasunari Kawabata, creating an East-West narrative path, blending German flavor with Japanese flavor, bringing about the strange surrealist style, strange diligence, strange humor, strange satire and strange tragedy of the female writer considered a strong Japanese candidate for the upcoming Nobel Prize in Literature.

Through the exchange, Vietnamese readers have more opportunities to understand more clearly the profound meanings in Yoko Tawada's literature, thereby contributing to bringing this writer closer to domestic readers.

Previously, at the end of August 2023, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Vietnam - Japan diplomatic relations as well as the launch of the work Hien Dang Su , the talk show "Hien Dang Su - Yoko Tawada and the haunting realities" was held in Ho Chi Minh City, attracting the attention of readers.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/nha-van-nhat-ban-yoko-tawada-se-giao-luu-voi-doc-gia-viet-nam-185240115142816269.htm