TALK

Translating Murakami

Coinciding with the UK publication of Murakami Haruki’s hotly anticipated new novel ‘Killing Commendatore’, Japan House invites translator Professor Ted Goossen to explore the distinctive challenges of translating Murakami’s work into English.

Professor Goossen is joined in conversation by leading Murakami academic Dr Gitte Marianne Hansen (Newcastle University).

Copies of ‘Killing Commendatore’ and other works by Murakami will be available to purchase at The Shop at Japan House.

The talk is accompanied by ‘Designing Murakami’, a pop-up display of Murakami book jacket designs, curated by Vintage Creative Director Suzanne DEAN, in the Japan House Library until 14 October 2018. An interactive workshop in which participants can illustrate a postcard featuring their own original Murakami book jacket design is also held on Friday 12 October.

About the Speakers:

Professor Ted Goossen

Ted Goossen is a Professor in the Department of Humanities at York University in Toronto, Canada specializing in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Literature. He has translated a number of Japanese writers including Shiga Naoya, Ibuse Masuji and Murakami Haruki, and is co-editor of the ‘Monkey Business’ literary journal which features new writing from Japan.

Dr Gitte Marianne Hansen

Dr Gitte Marianne Hansen is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies at Newcastle University. Her work focuses on Japanese culture since 1980, including literature and other forms of expression. She is currently working on an AHRC-funded research project on the acclaimed author Murakami Haruki. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is the author of 'Femininity, Self-harm and Eating Disorders in Japan: Navigating contradiction in narrative and visual culture' (Routledge, 2016).

The ‘Translating Murakami’ and ‘Designing Murakami’ events at Japan House are organized in collaboration with VINTAGE, a division of the Penguin Random House publishing house. The VINTAGE imprint Harvill Secker publishes ‘Killing Commendatore’ in the UK on 9 October 2018.