源氏物語The tale of Genji 及日本文學專家Edward Seidensticker

約2005

「凡是對東京歷史有興趣的人，非看美籍日本文學專家Edward Seidensticker寫的《東京．下町．山手》和《東京起來》兩本書不可。但是，書中一句話，叫我這個老東京非常吃驚。老日本通寫道：東京新宿以西是文化沙漠，既看不到傳統日本文化又找不到西方高級文化，除了酒和色以外，就是一無所有。….. Seidensticker的兩本書在一九八三年以及九二年問世。後來，新宿以西建設了西方高級文化之府幾所：例如，新國立劇場、TOKYO OPERA CITY、府中森藝術劇場等。然而，即使在二十年以前，恐怕大部分東京人不肯同意美國日本通的說法，因為自從二十世紀初，東京的文化前衛始終在新宿以西。 ……」 

如果你是＜Simon University＞ 的Seidensticker的忠實讀者，而且記性很好，或許知道此「美國人日本通」是日本文學的名翻譯家，尤其以川端康成作品和＜源氏物語＞（The Tale of Genji ）馳名。我們舉過大江先生的諾貝爾獎演講中對於川端康成標題的歧義之處理。

最近google scholar很方便，你想列舉他的作品，彈指間就完成了（希望再幾年也收入「萬國學者作品總匯」，完成全球化大業）。我這回拜此工具之賜才知道他近年還有一本回憶錄 Tokyo Central: A Memoir (Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, 2002 ) 和論「翻譯技巧」之文收入J Biguenet, R Schulte 主編的The Craft of Translation (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1989)； 論文Chiefly on translating the genji (The Journal of Japanese Studies)。 
前google scholar前兩頁標題大要。

日本：
Tokyo Rising: The City Since the Great Earthquake - E Seidensticker , Charles E. Tuttle, 1991 《東京起來》【hc：《東京新興起：1923年大地震之後再興記》】

Low City, High City: Tokyo From Edo to the Earthquake, 1867-1923 - 
E Seidensticke Middlesex, New York: Knopf, 1983 /UK: Penguin, 1985 《東京．下町．山手》

Japan EG Seidensticker Time-Life, 1968 這本不是台灣翻譯的『早期日本』

Tradition and Modernization in Japanese Culture -DH Shively, C Blacker - Princeton University Press, 1971 

This Country Japan EG Seidensticker Kodansha, 1984 
Showa: The Japan of Hirohito -C Gluck, SR Graubard Norton, 1992 
----
日本古典文學：【Key Words 

源氏物語　　　 The tale of Genji 
平安時代　　　 Heian Period 
日本文化　　　 The culture of Japan 
光源氏　　　 Genji The Shining Prince 
紫式部　　　 Lady Murasaki Shikibu 
源氏物語の概略　　　Summary of the tale of Genji
http://mcel.pacificu.edu/as/students/genji/homepage.html 】
The Tale of Genji (Everyman's Library, No.108) Murasaki Shikibu (著), Edward G. Seidensticker (著), Murasaki Shikibu (著) The Tale of Genji (Everyman's Library, No.108)

Genji Days - E Seidensticker New York: Kodansha International, 1983 （翻譯 ＜源氏物語＞日紀感言整理。） 
【舉個例，第97頁10月7日周六 整天早上和前午都在翻譯Hotaru…..Yes, the treatment of Genji is distinctly ambiguous, ironical, one might wish to say; and there is an interesting foretaste of Niou. …（foretaste noun [S] 1. 【事】 先嚐,試食;預嚐到的滋味;預示,前兆,徵象）】 

The Gossamer Years: A Diary by a Noblewoman of Heian Japan EG Seidensticker -Tuttle, 1964 

“There are as many sorts of women as there are women.”
―from "The Tale of Genji" by Murasaki Shikibu

In the early eleventh century Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Heian court of Japan, wrote what many consider to be the world’s first novel, more than three centuries before Chaucer. The Heian era (794—1185) is recognized as one of the very greatest periods in Japanese literature, and The Tale of Genji is not only the unquestioned prose masterpiece of that period but also the most lively and absorbing account we have of the intricate, exquisite, highly ordered court culture that made such a masterpiece possible. Genji is the favorite son of the emperor but also a man of dangerously passionate impulses. In his highly refined world, where every dalliance is an act of political consequence, his shifting alliances and secret love affairs create great turmoil and very nearly destroy him. Edward Seidensticker’s translation of Lady Murasaki’s splendid romance has been honored throughout the English-speaking world for its fluency, scholarly depth, and deep literary tact and sensitivity.