Friday, May 20, 2005

For Whom was It Written

This is a very difficult issue. But without art of writing, we could have neither the Torah, the Bible, the Koran, nor any sutras today.

A Japanese lady writer was invited to New York. Actually about 50 foreign writers were invited to a literature festival held in New York. Among them there were three Japanese writers. All of them happened to be ladies. Many American literature students, professors, writers, and business people concerned were involved on the host side.

I don’t know any other opinions on operation of the festival except the one of this particular lady writer who commented in a newspaper on her experience of joining the festival, but her cool judgment on the event reveals something enough.

Except an economy-class air ticket, she admitted that she was provided with very luxurious things and services. Even a party hall was gorgeous. But she found that Americans seldom read foreign works of literature, even if they were translated into American English. She met people who do not know anything about or are not interested in her Japanese expressions inside her novels.

A cynical opinion might be like this: “Money seems to be only scales for measuring value in this field, too. Every serious writer writes their novels for money. In addition, American readers are not interested in foreign stories that in most cases lack an abundant sense of American entertainment. They are regarded as something poor guys abroad are writing and telling that has done little to, or has no use for, being rich in or enjoying rich of America. So, American readers don’t buy foreign novels; and thus American publishers don’t issue foreign novels whether translated or not.”

She didn’t write this way. She simply wrote that Americans don’t read translated foreign literature, though many American novels were translated and sold in other countries. She felt emptiness when she talked to Americans about her work, while her listeners didn’t seem to read her novels in Japanese or any other languages.

If publishers think that writers who must love money above anything would be satisfied with and thankful for being provided with very luxurious things and services, it is tantamount to insult. Insult to whom? Of course, insult to the God who gives art of literature to human beings. When an artist offers something that transcends their ability by virtue of divine will, his/her work has real value.

Moreover, the world first female writers for real are Japanese. Murasaki-Shikibu and Sei-Syonagon created ever-popular works of literature around 1000 A.D. (It is almost when Cnut related to Denmark and Norway became King of England, but neither the Windsor nor the Hanover.) They both were celebrated court ladies and very talented poetesses of old imperial Japan. Even today, their works are being taught and studied in schools and institutions in Japan.

On the other hand, though the lady writer having flown from Japan to New York City for the Pen World Voices Festival of International Literature felt so much emptiness in the middle of the event and also in a limo, she still might have to master English and make an effort to sell her works to American readers, if she believes her works have universal value.

She doesn’t have to win a Nobel Prize to be respected somewhere, and she should know that where her treasure exists her mind and soul longs to stay. And especially where honorable tradition lives.

(Source of Information: The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper)