Michael Emmerich on Dogura magura (“Dogura Magura”) by Yumeno Kyusaku

By Michael Emmerich — Published on December 7, 2009

I’d love to see Dogura magura by Yumeno Kyũsaku translated. It’s brilliant, bewildering, totally nuts, a stylistic stew unlike anything I’ve ever read in either English or Japanese. This is the kind of book that lets a translator blossom into the labor of love of translation—the kind of book that would let translation shine. The kind of book that ought to be translated. First published in 1935, the title might best be translated, as it was into French, as Dogura magura.

Michael Emmerich is the translator of numerous seminal Japanese authors, including Yasunari Kawabata and Banana Yoshimoto.

More from The Quarterly Conversation:

1. The Michael Emmerich Interview Elizabeth Wadell talks to the English-language translator of Banana Yoshimoto and Yasunari Kawabata....
2. Four Greek Writers That You Should (and Can) Read: Translator Karen Emmerich in San Francisco On Tuesday, May 12, the translator Karen Emmerich read from various Greek works that she has translated into English. She spoke before a packed crowd of about 60 in San Francisco’s Minna Gallery at 111 Minna St. and appeared the invitation of San Francisco’s Center for the Art of Translation....
3. The Blue Guide to Indiana by Michael Martone As a member of the LBC, I was greatly impressed by Michael Martone, our Summer 2006 Reah This! selection. For those who haven’t read about the book on the LBC website, it’s a “novel” (or “fiction” as the author (also named Michael Martone) calls it) that is comprised entirely of...
4. Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje I. “There’s a laser scope . . . that can measure the vibrations in the glass of a window across the street, and then translate them into sounds. From there it’s one stop to hearing the conversation going on in that room,” says a character in Michael Ondaatje’s new novel...
5. The Michael Martone Interview Michael Martone’s most recent books include Racing in Place: Collages, Fragments, Postcards, Ruins; Unconventions: Attempting the Art of Craft And the Craft of Art; Michael Martone, a collection of fake contributor’s notes; and The Blue Guide to Indiana (read The Quarterly Conversation’s review). Quarry Press has also recently published Double-Wide:...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Read more articles by Michael Emmerich

• Michael Emmerich on Dogura magura (“Dogura Magura”) by Yumeno Kyusaku