I appreciate your combining three of Ogawa's novels in this review, Joel. The Housekeeper and the Professor is one of my all-time favorite books. I had no idea she was so prolific.
As far as language and the difficulties of translations go, years ago I read a sci-fi novel by Samuel Delaney, in which an alien language, Babel-17 (also the title of the book), actually changed the way its speakers thought, and turned them into agents of the alien culture. Along the same lines, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is about a plot to use the pre-Tower of Babel universal language to control humanity. HIs thesis was that the Tower of Babel episode was a liberating event for humanity.
I’m not sure how many of Ogawa’s books are available in English. They seem to be selective about what they translate. Her books come out in Japanese sometimes many, many years before they end up in English.
The language-to-belief idea sounds like the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis put to fictional ends. Kind of cool.
LOL. It was the least I could do. I read The Memory Police last year. When I read Mina’s Matchbox I re-read The Memory Police immediately afterward and then jumped into Housekeeper. I could easily imagine reading all three again. Her writing is beautiful.
An epiphany for the ongoing debate about the difficulty of translation? Is translation impossible only because languages are confused, or because different-language speakers are different? Of course language shapes cultures, worldviews, creeds, and philosophies. What if you call a conference of dozens of language representatives (native speakers), just to compare notes on what they mean when they hear or use their word for "remember"?
That’s fascinating to think of. I do think there are challenges going from one language group and culture to the next. Translators have to negotiate so much and there are tradeoffs with every decision. “Remember” is a great example of that. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition when someone dies, we say “memory eternal—may their memory be eternal.” In that sense, we’re saying may God hold them in existence so they don’t utterly perish, not that we humans may call them to mind from time to time. That idea of remembrance being an existential thing surely changes how we think about it.
I absolutely loved Mina and the Matchbox. I will start The Housekeeper and the Professor in the next day or two and have put a hold out for The Memory Police. Her words are so beautifully selected and the way she expresses things are so Japanese. You can see all she talks about so easily in your mind’s eye and the halting speech that is so native to Japan about correctness and station in life. I loved the pet hippo. What an unusual touch of whimsy. Thank you again for the lovely recommendation that i so thoroughly enjoyed. I needed something light after i read Blood Meridien and Child of God by McCarthy and listened to your interview with Derek Holser which i found fascinating.
I appreciate your combining three of Ogawa's novels in this review, Joel. The Housekeeper and the Professor is one of my all-time favorite books. I had no idea she was so prolific.
As far as language and the difficulties of translations go, years ago I read a sci-fi novel by Samuel Delaney, in which an alien language, Babel-17 (also the title of the book), actually changed the way its speakers thought, and turned them into agents of the alien culture. Along the same lines, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is about a plot to use the pre-Tower of Babel universal language to control humanity. HIs thesis was that the Tower of Babel episode was a liberating event for humanity.
I’m not sure how many of Ogawa’s books are available in English. They seem to be selective about what they translate. Her books come out in Japanese sometimes many, many years before they end up in English.
The language-to-belief idea sounds like the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis put to fictional ends. Kind of cool.
I loved THE MEMORY POLICE, but for some reason it never occurred to me to look for other books by Ogawa. Thank you for highlighting these!
Well, you've messed up my reading schedule once again. Now I'll have to drop everything and start reading Ogawa. Damn you!
LOL. It was the least I could do. I read The Memory Police last year. When I read Mina’s Matchbox I re-read The Memory Police immediately afterward and then jumped into Housekeeper. I could easily imagine reading all three again. Her writing is beautiful.
Haha! You just keep piling it on. Just ordered memory police and will start reading tonight. thank you!
Thank you for introducing me to a new Asian writers. Her books sound right up my street. Great review 👏😊
My pleasure. Ogawa’s writing is lovely. Have you read much Shusaku Endo? I recently read his Deep River and was deeply moved. I love his books.
An epiphany for the ongoing debate about the difficulty of translation? Is translation impossible only because languages are confused, or because different-language speakers are different? Of course language shapes cultures, worldviews, creeds, and philosophies. What if you call a conference of dozens of language representatives (native speakers), just to compare notes on what they mean when they hear or use their word for "remember"?
That’s fascinating to think of. I do think there are challenges going from one language group and culture to the next. Translators have to negotiate so much and there are tradeoffs with every decision. “Remember” is a great example of that. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition when someone dies, we say “memory eternal—may their memory be eternal.” In that sense, we’re saying may God hold them in existence so they don’t utterly perish, not that we humans may call them to mind from time to time. That idea of remembrance being an existential thing surely changes how we think about it.
I absolutely loved Mina and the Matchbox. I will start The Housekeeper and the Professor in the next day or two and have put a hold out for The Memory Police. Her words are so beautifully selected and the way she expresses things are so Japanese. You can see all she talks about so easily in your mind’s eye and the halting speech that is so native to Japan about correctness and station in life. I loved the pet hippo. What an unusual touch of whimsy. Thank you again for the lovely recommendation that i so thoroughly enjoyed. I needed something light after i read Blood Meridien and Child of God by McCarthy and listened to your interview with Derek Holser which i found fascinating.