Botchan (Master Darling)
Natsume, Soseki, 1867-1916
English
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Below is a summary of Botchan (Master Darling)
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BOTCHAN (MASTER DARLING)
By The Late Mr. Kin-nosuke Natsume
TRANSLATED By Yasotaro Morri
Revised by J. R. KENNEDY
1919
A NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR
No translation can expect to equal, much less to excel, the original.
The excellence of a translation can only be judged by noting how far it
has succeeded in reproducing the original tone, colors, style, the
delicacy of sentiment, the force of inert strength, the peculiar
expressions native to the language with which the original is written,
or whatever is its marked characteristic. The ablest can do no more, and
to want more than this will be demanding something impossible. Strictly
speaking, the only way one can derive full benefit or enjoyment from a
foreign work is to read the original, for any intelligence at
second-hand never gives the kind of satisfaction which is possible only
through the direct touch with the original. Even in the best translated
work is probably wanted the subtle vitality natural to the original
language, for it defies an attempt, however elaborate, to transmit all
there is in the original. Correctness of diction may be there, but
spontaneity is gone; it cannot be helped.
The task of the translator becomes doubly hazardous in case of
translating a European language into Japanese, or vice versa. Between
any of the European languages and Japanese there is no visible kinship
in word-form, significance, grammatical system, rhetorical arrangements.
It may be said that the inspiration of the two languages is totally
different. A want of similarity of customs, habits, traditions, national
sentiments and traits makes the work of translation all the more
difficult. A novel written in Japanese which had attained national
popularity might, when rendered into English, lose its captivating
vividness, alluring interest and lasting appeal to the reader.
These remarks are made not in way of excuse for any faulty dictions that
may be found in the following pages. Neither are they made out of
personal modesty nor of a desire to add undue weight to the present
work. They are made in the hope that whoever is good enough to go
through the present translation will remember, before he may venture to
make criticisms, the kind and extent of difficulties besetting him in
his attempts so as not to judge the merit of the original by this
translation. Nothing would afford the translator a greater pain than any
unfavorable comment on the original based upon this translation. If
there be any deserving merits in the following pages the credit is due
to the original. Any fault found in its interpretation or in the English
version, the whole responsibility is on the translator.
For the benefit of those who may not know the original, it must be
stated that "Botchan" by the late Mr. K. Natsume was an epoch-making
piece of work. On its first appearance, Mr. Natsume's place and name as
the foremost in the new literary school were firmly established. He had
written many other novels of more serious intent, of heavier thoughts
and of more enduring merits, but it was this "Botchan" that secured him
the lasting fame. Its quaint style, dash and vigor in its narration
appealed to the public who had become somewhat tired of the stereotyped
sort of manner with which all stories had come to be handled.
In its simplest understanding, "Botchan" may be taken as an episode in
the life of a son born in Tokyo, hot-blooded, simple-hearted, pure as
crystal and sturdy as a towering rock, honest and straight to a fault,
intolerant of the least injustice and a volunteer ever ready to champion
what he considers right and good. Children may read it as a "story of
man who tried to be honest." It is a light, amusing and, at the name
time, instructive story, with no tangle of love affairs, no scheme of
blood-curdling scenes or nothing startling or sensational in the plot or
characters. The story, however, may be regarded as a biting sarcasm on a
hypocritical society in which a gang of instructors of dark character at
a middle school in a backwoods town plays a prominent part. The hero of
the story is made a victim of their annoying intrigues, but finally
comes out triumphant by smashing the petty red tapism, knocking down the
sham pretentions and by actual use of the fist on the Head Instructor
and his henchman.
The story will be found equally entertaining as a means of studying the
peculiar traits of the native of Tokyo which are characterised by their
quick temper, dashing spirit, generosity and by their readiness to
resist even the lordly personage if convinced of their own justness, or
to kneel down even to a child if they acknowledge their own wrong.
Incidently the touching devotion of the old maid servant Kiyo to the
hero will prove a standing reproach to the inconstant, unfaithful
servants of which the number is ever increasing these days in Tokyo. The
story becomes doubly interesting by the fact that Mr. K. Natsume, when
quite young, held a position of teacher of English at a middle school
somewhere about the same part of the country described in the story,
while he himself was born and brought up in Tokyo.
It may be added that the original is written in an autobiographical
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