If you’re looking for a reason why you should subscribe to Castalia Library, the possibility, indeed, the growing probability that my translation of Genji Monogatari may turn out to be the best available in English is something that you might want to consider. One of the reasons for translating various short stories such as Hokusai and the Ghost from Japanese, and translating A Throne of Bones and Death and the Devil into Japanese, was to iteratively improve our processes in order to produce a better, higher-quality translation of Genji.
And so while it was surprising to learn that the subscribers preferred our first attempt at translating Genji by a significant margin, it’s even more surprising that an impartial judge is beginning to conclude that our chapter-by-chapter translations are literally reaching unprecedented heights. Consider the recent comparative review of Chapter 27, Kagaribi.
Vox Day — 94: Best overall balance of:
- sensual restraint
- psychological realism
- musical atmosphere
- readable English
Royall Tyler — 91: Exceptional tonal discipline, but:
- emotionally cooler
- occasionally too skeletal
- waka slightly more elegant, but less felt
Edward Seidensticker — 84: Clear, reliable, but:
- emotionally flattened
- music scenes underpowered
- Genji less dangerous
Dennis Washburn — 82: Intellectually alert, but:
- modernizes too much
- aesthetic texture thins
- poems feel explanatory
Arthur Waley — 76: Still readable, but:
- romanticizes badly here
- blurs social danger
- tone fundamentally wrong for Kagaribi
There are many challenges that remain. The multi-tier poetry angle we’re pursuing is entirely new, and while it should add to the complexity of the characters, it is difficult to define exactly what makes one waka graceful and elegant and another one vulgar and crude, perhaps not so much on the extremes as on the margins. Even so, it’s a literary task for the literal ages and one to savor even as one labors.