Date of Award

Spring 4-1-2011

Document Type

Restricted Thesis

Terms of Use

© 2011 James Preimesberger. All rights reserved. Access to this work is restricted to users within the Swarthmore College network and may only be used for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes. Sharing with users outside of the Swarthmore College network is expressly prohibited. For all other uses, including reproduction and distribution, please contact the copyright holder.

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Special Major: Japanese Language, Literature, and Culture

Abstract

"The Second Bakery Attack" is a short story written by Haruki Murakami, published in 1989 as the first story in a collection ofthe same name. It is the story of a man (known only by the pronoun "Boku," or "I") and wife who, after waking up in the middle of the night to find themselves hungrier than they have ever been, commit a minor crime with the hopes of satisfying their stomachs. "The Second Bakery Attack" explores interpersonal relationships as well as the relationship one has with one's own body. This translation seeks to emphasize this aspect of the story, while remaining as true to the original Japanese text as possible. Included is a translator's note, meant to elucidate the process of translation in light of critical analysis, technical work, and comparison to the only other English translation published to date. While the first priority with regards to translation was the preservation of larger narrative structures, much attention is paid at the individual sentence and word levels, as well as to complex issues that arose throughout the process. The result is an exploration of the bodies of linguistic, literary, and cultural knowledge necessary to properly transport a text from one culture into another.

Comments

Recipient of the Alice L. Crossley Prize in Asian Studies, second prize, awarded in 2011

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