Hototogisu (Better to Return)

Name: Hototogisu (Better to Return)
ISBN: 9787532749928

德富芦花Shanghai Translation Publishing House2010

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ISBN: 9787532749928

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Summary

Hototogisu is the breakout work of Tokutomi Roka, a novelist of Japan's Meiji and Taisho periods. Serialized in Kokumin Shimbun from 1898 to 1899, it caused a great sensation upon publication, was reprinted again and again, and was hailed together with Ozaki Koyo's The Golden Demon as a bestselling novel of the Meiji era. The story is set in Japan around the First Sino-Japanese War: the heroine Namiko, gentle and virtuous, marries the naval officer Kawashima Takeo, and the two are deeply devoted; but she suffers from pulmonary tuberculosis and is caught between a domineering stepmother and a hostile mother-in-law, and is finally driven out of the family with a letter of divorce while Takeo is away at war. When Takeo returns, Namiko has grown increasingly frail, and the two only glimpse each other briefly at a station before parting forever. With restrained and subtle strokes, the novel depicts a marriage forcibly torn apart under the family system and social prejudice; the heroine's illness is both physical and a metaphor for the suffocating situation of women in that era. The work draws on real events; after publication it caused a sensation in official and public circles, was adapted many times for stage and film, and was translated into Chinese, English, German, Russian and other languages. Feng Zikai's translation is elegant and fluent and is one of the most widely circulated Chinese versions of the book.

Editor's review

这是一部被称作"日本《孔雀东南飞》"的作品：年轻夫妻情投意合，却因疾病与家族体面被强行拆散。德富芦花没有把笔墨用于控诉，而是以极安静的方式写离别，车站抛手帕的一幕，几乎成为明治文学的标志性场景。丰子恺的译文尤其值得一读：他译笔从容、节奏缓慢，把原作中写海、写云、写黄昏的段落译得有呼吸感。丰子恺在译后记里指出，书中两片渐渐消散的云，正与两位主角的命运相映，读者若留意这些细节，会读出比情节更深的意味。虽然故事的社会背景（肺病近乎绝症、家族可代为休妻）已与今天相去甚远，其中关于婆媳关系、母子关系、新旧道德与妇女处境的追问并未过时。一本薄薄的小书，一个下午可以读完，读完却会想很久。

Who it's for

A good fit for

喜爱日本近代文学、想了解明治时期社会风貌的读者
对《孔雀东南飞》《伤逝》一类拆散型爱情悲剧有共鸣的读者
欣赏丰子恺译笔、偏好典雅克制文风的读者
从事中日文学翻译与比较文学研究的学生、教师

Not a good fit for

期待情节紧凑、强冲突叙事的类型小说读者
更想读德富芦花随笔与散文的读者（可另选《自然与人生》）

Reading tips

先读正文，再回头读丰子恺的译后记，能更清楚书中写景与人物命运的双关。
留意车站分别、海边云影等写景段落，这些是全书艺术性最集中的地方。
不妨与《孔雀东南飞》、鲁迅《伤逝》并读，比较不同时代对婚姻与家族压迫的书写。
读完后简单了解一下大山岩之女信子的真实故事，可体会作者如何把实事写成小说。

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

FAQ

《不如归》讲的是什么故事？

小说写海军军官川岛武男与妻子浪子感情笃厚，浪子却身患肺病，又夹在继母与婆婆的矛盾中，最终在武男出征期间被婆家休弃，归来后两人天各一方。这是一个在家族制度与世俗偏见下被拆散的婚姻悲剧。

这本书和《孔雀东南飞》有什么关系？

这是评论者对它的比附，并非作品本身有直接关联。两者都写恩爱夫妻被家长强行拆散，所以有人称《不如归》为"日本的《孔雀东南飞》"，这一说法可见于人民文学出版社版本的介绍。

丰子恺译本和林纾译本有何不同？

林纾与魏易的文言译本1908年由商务印书馆出版，是中国最早的译本之一；丰子恺译本完成于1959年，白话译文典雅晓畅，后由上海译文出版社出版，是流传最广的中文版本。

这个版本有目录或导读吗？

上海译文出版社2010年版正文为小说本体，书后附丰子恺所撰译后记，讨论作者生平、素材来源与作品艺术特点，未见分章目录。

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About the author

德富芦花 Author

Tokutomi Roka was a modern Japanese essayist. Publicly available information about the details of his life and his nationality is limited, but among Chinese readers he is known mainly for his essays and nature writing. Four of his works are included in this collection, with representative titles such as Nature and Life, Spring Cherry Blossoms, Autumn Leaves, and Selected Translations by Chen Dewen (7 volumes). His works are commonly classified as classics and miscellaneous essays. His writing draws largely on the scenery of the four seasons, rural life, and everyday reflections. His style is clear and delicate, and he is skilled at expressing thoughts on life and society through descriptions of nature, combining lyricism with close observation. After being translated into Chinese, such writing has influenced many readers who love essays and nature literature, and it is regarded as an important part of the Chinese translation of modern Japanese prose.