Perception of the novel “Idiot” in Japan

Abstract

In Japan, there is a tradition of researching and translating Russian literary works, especially those of F. M. Dostoevsky, one of the most popular authors in Japan among the world’s writers. The paper is aimed at analyzing the ways Dostoevsky’s novel “Idiot” was perceived and translated in Japan over the past 40 years. This article contains an overview of the history of the studies regarding the novel in Japan, especially translations and academic works. “Idiot” has been translated into Japanese at least 8 times. Recently, translators have focused on the simplicity of the syllable in order to make it easier for Japanese readers to understand the text relating to a foreign culture and other historical time. Several monographs in which different approaches were realized to study the novel comprehensively have been published in Japan. For example, Taku Egawa used the method of linguistic etymology in his work. Mitiko Tomioka compared Raphael’s painting “Sistine Madonna” with one of the scenes at the end of the novel. The movie “Idiot” by Akira Kurosava is a screen version of the novel, it is well known all over the world. Many Japanese authors wrote about this film and other films of Kurosawa, in which the influence of Dostoevsky is quite noticeable. It is also should be mentioned that the famous Japanese critic Hideo Kobayashi has had a great influence on Japanese readers and researchers. A review of critical and scientific works written from Kobayashi’s position led to the conclusion that the works of Japanese authors devoted to the analysis of the novel “Idiot” indicate a tendency to analyze the shortcomings and contradictions of the novel, as well as the negative aspects in the image of Myshkin.