Futabatei Shimei's Translations from Russian: Verbal Aspect and Narrative Perspective

Abstract

Although acknowledged as the founder of the modern Japanese novel, Futabatei Shimei wrote only three novels in his life. He also, however, translated numerous works from Russian literature by writers such as Turgenev, Gogol, Tolstoy, Garshin, Gorky and Andreev. The influence of these translations rivalled and at times exceeded that of his original works. His first two translations, Aibiki and Meguriai (from Turgenev's Svidanie and Tri vstrechi) were perhaps his most influential, especially with writers of the naturalist school. A prominent stylistic feature of these works is the use of ‘-ta’ form verbs to translate all Russian past-tense verbs. Eight years after their publication Futabatei produced revised translations of the same works, under the titles Aibiki and Kigu¯. While he continued to use ‘-ta’ form verbs to translate past-tense verbs of perfective aspect, he now chose ‘-ru’ or ‘-te iru’ verbs for most past-tense verbs of imperfective aspect. This contrasting treatment of Russian verbs according to their aspect became a feature of all his subsequent translations, resulting in some dramatic and vivid narratives, most notably Sho¯zo¯ga (from Gogol's Portret).