Largehearted Boy: Shorties (Translating Haruki Murakami, M. Ward, and more)

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April 12, 2012

Shorties (Translating Haruki Murakami, M. Ward, and more)

The San Francisco Bay Guardian interviews Jay Rubin and J. Philip Gabriel about translating the works of Haruki Murakami.

SFBG: How do you align yourself with the author so that even the subtlest aspects of their work are communicated?

JR: Maybe I'm not doing that. You never know, do you? I'm always saying that people shouldn't read translated literature, they should learn the language themselves. One way you can build up trust is by reading the translation and feeling to see if it moves you in the same recognizable ways as reading in your native language. There's never a guarantee that you're getting the unalloyed original. But if a piece of literature is able to make you afraid or delighted in some way, it's fairly likely that there's something in the original that does that too.

JPG: I work with writers who are fortunately still alive. I have the option of asking a question for clarification. Murakami's English is really good, and he is a translator himself, so he understands the challenges at hand and is happy to give suggestions.

Spinner interviews M. Ward about his new album, Wasteland Companion.

The shortlist for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has been named.

Congratulations to Largehearted Boy Book Notes contributor Willy Vlautin.

ELLE profiles Oh Land's Nanna Oland Fabricius.

Released last year, Oh Land's U.S. debut, an eponymous album of electronica-inflected pop—which ranges from haunting ballads to percussion-heavy, effervescent dance numbers—reflects her whimsical taste and bears a more than passing resemblance to the work of the Icelandic superstar. "It's a bit Alice in Wonderland–ish," she says of her harmony-happy, madrigal-style vocals. "I'm in my own world when I write and perform, one that is abstract. Oh Land is a land that I can escape to and be creative."

Bookworm interviews Krys Lee about her short story collection Drifting House.

Hypebot profiles the new music blogging collective, Ad Hoc.

The A.V. Club interviews comics writer Brian K. Vaughn.

PopMatters lists the top 10 culturally significant banjo moments.

The Awl gets book tour advice from writers and publicists.

Ms. Blog interviews singer-songwriter Dar Williams.

Fresh Air reviews and excerpts from Nadine Gordimer's new novel No Time Like the Present.

NPR is streaming several songs from Fiona Apple's SXSW performance.

Win The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxed Set, The Hunger Games soundtrack, and a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.

Amazon MP3 has 100 digital albums on sale for $5.

Follow me on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.

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