| This dissertation is a literary history which traces English literature translated into Japanese in the first half of the Meiji era (1868 and 1912), and surveys how the Japanese accepted it and created their own modern literature under its influence. Although many scholars have studied Japanese translations of English Literature, they have not done detailed comparisons of the translations with the English originals. In this dissertation, I will discuss the significance of translation in partially explaining the origins of modern Japanese literature, basing my study on a comparison between the translations and the originals.;Due to its national isolation policy for more than two hundred years until the Meiji Revolution in 1868, Japan had isolated itself. This isolation caused Japan to remain relatively untouched by Western literary traditions.;In the Meiji era liberal leaders groped not only for a philosophy which could lead the new society or that could develop a view of life appropriate for modernization in Japan, but also for new literary forms to represent them. In other words, they were awakened to a perceived necessity to modernize Japanese literature. However, they had too little experience to create their new literature immediately. Translating Western literature into Japanese, they tried to "civilize" or "enlighten" the Japanese people and to create a modern Japanese literature. In doing so they created an appetite for Occidental civilization, helped Japanese readers to recognize Western philosophy, customs and manners, popularized new literary models among Japanese writers and poets, and altered the ways in which Japanese was written.;In the second decade of the Meiji era, English novels such as those of Bulwer-Lytton and Walter Scott were translated, and Japanese intellectuals concluded through translations that the essence of a novel is not to tell a story but to represent characters. English poems such as those of Shakespeare, Thomas Gray and Alfred Tennyson were translated, and the Japanese gradually adopted them as models for their new-style poetry.;In the first half of the Meiji era, the translation of English literature played a major role in the preparation for modern Japanese literature, while in the latter half, a new Japanese literature developed. In this era the Japanese people accepted English literature and assimilated it into their modern literature. By the acceptance of translated English literature, in other words, Japanese literature broke from convention. Translation was indispensable for the modernization of Japanese literature. |
