Academic works

“Kieran Maynard‬ – ‪Google Scholar‬: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=V2gsiG8AAAAJ

Abstracts of Papers
Kieran Maynard


Lost Chapters in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Translation and Commentary
(Pacific Asia Inquiry, University of Guam, Oct. 2013)

Murakami Haruki is among the most translated living Japanese authors. His novel Nejimakidori kuronikuru (1994, 1995) has been translated into English as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1997) by Jay Rubin, who cut about sixty-one of 1,379 pages, including three chapters (Book 2 Chapters 15, 18, and part of 17; and Book 3 Chapter 26). Other sections were rearranged or altered. I believe the deleted sections should be included in the translation, as they invite new interpretations and enhance appreciation of the novel. This paper summarizes the deleted sections, analyzes the consequences of their omission, and argues for inclusion in the English edition of the novel.

Cross-media Study of Mo Yan’s “Red Sorghum” in Film and Translation (2012)

The name “Red Sorghum” 红高粱 may refer to any of several different works, the first of which is Mo Yan’s short story “Red Sorghum,” published to critical acclaim in 1986. The second is the 1987 film directed by Zhang Yimou that is based on two Mo Yan short stories “Red Sorghum” and “Sorghum Wine” 高粱酒. The film follows a different chronology than that of the book and occasionally changes the plot. The third is any incarnation of the collection of short stories otherwise called Red Sorghum Clan 红高粱家族. The collection contains considerably more material than is included in the film, and different editions may contain different stories. In English, “Red Sorghum” refers either to the Zhang Yimou film or Howard Goldblatt’s 1993 translation of Red Sorghum Clan, called Red Sorghum: A Novel of China. The English translation is based on an out of print older edition of the book and may contain additional changes made by the translator. This paper describes the different editions of Red Sorghum across language and media. A careful analysis of two chapters will illuminate several of the primary differences between the book and the film, and on occasion differences between Chinese editions and the English translation.

Towards a Japanese “linguistics of speech”: semantic collocation in massive language corpora (2010)

Corpus linguistics will soon benefit from the public release of a new electronic corpus of written Japanese. This study attempts to lay the foundation for an application of the Kretzschmar’s (2009) “linguistics of speech” to Japanese speech data in the aggregate. We will first characterize the Kotonoha Project, describe our theoretical foundations and some issues specific to Japanese, then apply Sinclair’s (2004) analytical methods to Japanese corpus evidence in search of significant collocations and the distributional pattern of the linguistics of speech.

Ueda Akinari’s Jasei no in: A Japanese tale of the white snake
(Coursework, unpublished)

Ueda Akinari (1734-1809) published a collection of short stories in Japan in 1776 titled Ugetsu monogatari, one of which, Jasei no in蛇性の婬, is a retelling of the Chinese “white snake legend” (J. hakujaden), in which a young man marries a beautiful woman who turns out to be a snake demon in disguise. The text is full of allusions to classical Japanese literature, but is also a retelling of the colloquial Chinese story Bainiangzi yongzhen Leifengta白娘子永鎮雷峰塔from the 1624 Jingshi tongyan (J. Keishi tsūgen) compiled by Feng Menglong. Both Bainiangzi and Jasei no in contain plots that begin and end in nearly the same way, and the latter contains clear references to the Chinese text. However, Akinari blends the Chinese white snake legend with the Japanese Dōjōji legend (J. Dōjōji densetsu). This paper argues that, in these two tales, the nature of the snake woman differs. The Chinese text seems most concerned with Bai’s categorical status—whether she is human or not. In contrast, in the world of Jasei no in, a relationship between a human and a non-human is unacceptable. A close comparison of key words, passages, characters, and plot elements will illuminate the similarities and differences between these two related texts.


「4月のある晴れた朝」の現実と非現実 [Reality and unreality in Murakami Haruki’s “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning”] (Coursework, unpublished)

一見したところ、村上春樹の小説「4月のある晴れた朝に100％の女の子に出会うことについて」は完璧な恋愛を取り逃したことを嘆いているようだが、根本的には100パーセントの相手がどこかに居るという想い自体を批判しており、それは構成を見れば分かる。場面の配置は現実から空想になり、昔話になってから現実に戻って終わる。100パーセントの女性と出会うシーンが空想になることは、完璧な恋愛も空想だと主張しているといえよう。ウディー・アレン監督は作中で言及されているが、それは70年代の彼の映画はよく恋愛を諷刺したからだ。日本でもよく知られている1977年の映画「アニー・ホール」では、主人公は幻想に耽っている30歳くらいの男性で、現実と非現実的の場面が混合する。村上の小説でも現実と非現実の語りが重なって一致するから内容も理想に過ぎない。そして最後の一行で現実に戻るのは、初恋をした時のように、いつか現実に戻らねばならないからだ。


Animals in Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s “Rashōmon”

芥川龍之介作の「羅生門」という短編小説の中に動物にまつわる表現が幾つかあり、処によって異なる効果を醸し出している。全編にわたって動物に関する表現は背景を設定するのに、そして、下人と老婆を非人間的にするのに用いられる。最後の追い剥ぎの場面に動物表現がない事は、要するに道徳というものは人間が定めるのだと主張しているのであろう。

In the short story “Rashōmon” by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, the author uses multiple metaphorical expressions related to animals for various textual effects. Throughout the work, expressions invoking animals are used to set the background and dehumanize the two main characters. The lack of animal related metaphors in the final scene where the old woman is stripped of her clothes suggests that morality is something that can only be decided by humans.

「緑色の獣」と東アジアの民話：越境者の拒絶 [Murakami Haruki’s “Green Monster” and East Asian folklore: The rejection of boundary-crossers] (Coursework, unpublished)

村上春樹の「緑色の獣」という短編小説は終始、 緑色の獣という怪物が人間の世界に入り、そして殺される過程を描いている。緑色の獣は、愛情を認められずに殺されてしまう。その理由は、緑色の獣が害悪であるからでなく、別の世界のものであるからだ。この論文は、「白蛇伝」などの物語との比較を通して、この小説には東アジアの民話によくある思想が見られることをして指摘する。そして、緑色の獣は越境者であり、白蛇伝の怪物と同じように、越境者としての存在が認められないから処分されてしまう、と出張する。

《倾城之恋》里的时间观 (Chinese, unpublished coursework)

张爱玲早期的小说《倾城之恋》中，“时间”是一个关键的主题。通过主人公白流苏，张爱玲提出了一个问题：思维决定了时间的流动。通过仔细的分析能够看到，张爱玲使用叙述，情节，以及比喻而提供了一种独特的“时间观”。这样一种非线性的时间观是与人类的感知分不开的。张爱玲的早期小说中有一种超越历史的哲学意识。换而言，超越历史就是超越时间。小说中提起关于时间，或者用关于时间的词语表现的哲学性疑问。这些疑问是有关于人类经历的存在性问题。假设有两种不同的时间，怎能证明哪种是真实的，哪种是感知的？小说没有提出答案，而是留给了读者十足的思考空间。

Concepts of time in Eileen Chang’s Love in a Fallen City (translation of above abstract)

In Eileen Chang’s short story “Love in a Fallen City,” the concept of “time” is a central theme. Through the character of Bai Liusu, Chang raises the question that it is perhaps our perceptions that determine the flow of time, which Zhang presents as a fluid entity. A careful analysis will reveal that through the use of narrative, plot, and metaphor, Chang presents a concept of time that is not linear, but in flux, one that cannot be separated from human perception. This paper argues that Eileen Chang’s early short stories have a “philosophical awareness” that transcends time, so time is an important element. “Love in a Fallen City” raises philosophical questions about time, or posed in terms of time, that relate to deeper existential issues relating to human experience. If there exist different kinds of time, how can we know which sort of time is real, and which is perceptual? The short story does not answer these questions, but leaves them for the reader to ponder.

沈从文的《丈夫》与戴乃迭的英译 [Shen Congwen’s “The Husband” and Gladys Yang’s translation] (Coursework, unpublished)

沈从文的短篇小说《丈夫》发表于1930年，讲述了一对年轻夫妻的故事：一个年轻女人为了赚钱救济自己与其丈夫，从山寨来到城市卖身。有一天，她的丈夫进城来，看到其媳妇的情形心情十分复杂，于是两个人一起回农村。目前，《丈夫》有几个不同的英译本。本论文将介绍戴乃迭，一位译过沈从文的翻译家，以及其翻译作品《丈夫》，进而分析小说的结构、叙述方式、以及译者采用的翻译策略。

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