Michael Pye, translating drunk - and Stark Naked: problems in presenting eighteenth century Japanese thought

Barrett, Tim H.

Michael Pye, translating drunk - and Stark Naked: problems in presenting eighteenth century Japanese thought

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Published Version

Date

2016

Authors

Barrett, Tim H.

Publisher

ISASR in association with the Study of Religions, University College Cork

Abstract

In 1990 Michael Pye published a full translation of the writings of the Japanese scholar Tominaga Nakamoto (1715-1746), to which I responded in a 1993 review illustrating a possible alternative approach by retranslating one chapter. In 1997 Michael Pye defended his original work. Here I show that this defence misunderstands at least some of the rationale for suggesting an alternative translation method, and provide a short passage of translation with commentary from Hattori Somon (1724-1769), a very similar but much less wellknown scholar, in order both to introduce his thought and to illustrate further the translation method I prefer. Finally some broader questions about the interpretation of Japanese eighteenth century thought are briefly indicated.

Keywords

Tominaga Nakamoto , Hattori Somon , Japan , translation

Citation

BARRETT, T. H. 2016. Michael Pye, translating drunk - and Stark Naked: problems in presenting eighteenth century Japanese thought. Journal of the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions, 3(1), 236-249.