Face at the Bottom of the World and Other Poems (UNESCO Collection of Representative Works: Japanese Series)

by Sakutarō Hagiwara

English, Japanese (translation)

Genres: Poetry, Japanese Literature

83 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1969

About the author

Hagiwara Sakutarō (萩原朔太郎) was a Japanese writer of free-style verse, active in the Taishō and early Shōwa periods of Japan. He liberated Japanese free verse from the grip of traditional rules, and he is considered the “father of modern colloquial poetry in Japan”. He published many volumes of essays, literary and cultural criticism, and aphorisms over his long career. His unique style of verse expressed his doubts about existence, and his fears, ennui, and anger through the use of dark images and unambiguous wording.

Reviews

[Joel · Rating 1 out of 5]

The 1-star rating isn’t for Hagiwara; since I don’t know Japanese, I’ll never be able to rate his actual poetry. It’s for the translator of this volume, Graeme Wilson.

It’s notoriously hard to translate poetry from one language to another, so it’s perhaps unfair to criticize Wilson’s approach. But I got a bad feeling about it when I read the introduction, in which Wilson mentions that he didn’t bother to translate any of Hagiwara’s poetry literally; and that he uses a lot of rhyme, even though Hagiwara’s originals did so only rarely. He even compares his approach to Fitzgerald’s famous (and infamous) “translation” of Omar Khayyam.

All of that could maybe be forgiven, if Wilson’s versions sung in English. They might not be great as translations, but still worthwhile as poetry. Alas, they came across to me as doggerel. Not that I could do better, of course. But if you really want to read Hagiwara, spending years to learn Japanese would be a better use of your time than spending an hour to read this volume.

[Raven]

"Look, all sins are written down;
But not all sins were mine."

"They explain, because they are, themselves. It follows, of course, that if they fail to come alive they must come to nothing. Traduttori traditori say the Italians. Translators are traitors."

"Hagiwara, for all his brilliance, seem somehow to switch on darkness, to radiate black luminance."

"Kitahara Hakushu, in his introduction to Barking at the Moon, had likened the quality of Hagiwara's early poetry to that of 'a razor soaked in gloomy scent,' to 'the flash of a razor in a bowl of cool mercury.'"

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t really like the atmosphere, stylistic elements, and execution of the poems. Many of the themes are ones I like, but not in the way they were written.

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent intro essay on Hagiwara, followed by somewhat lame translations. I got suspicious when the intro ended with the translator's dismissal of "literal translation" in favor of some kind of re-imagining. Hagiwara probably doesnt sound so much like a weak acolyte of early Eliot.

[Shannon Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite grim. Beautiful but not exactly uplifting poetry.

[Leif · Rating 4 out of 5]

A particularly gothic spin on Hagiwara's work: very interesting reading.