Abstract
This note includes a short introduction to the Japanese critic, children’s literature scholar, and translator Seta Teiji alongside an English translation of his 1975 piece, “Tolkien Sensei’s Lingering Shadow: Seeking His Traces in a Berkshire Hamlet.” Seta translated J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia into Japanese, among many other titles. The introduction discusses Seta’s key translation practice of rendering character and place names into linguistically transparent Japanese equivalents, coincidentally conforming to Tolkien’s preferences for translating names. The introduction further argues that this practice of Japanization extends beyond Seta’s translations and shapes his literary perception of the English landscape itself. In recounting his journey through Berkshire, Seta interprets the countryside through the language and imagery of Kunikida Doppo’s Musashino, a foundational work of Meiji-era Romantic Naturalism. Particular attention is given to Seta’s use of the term omokage, or “lingering shadow,” and to his allusion to Doppo’s posture of attentive observation and listening in the woods. These intertextual echoes position Seta’s encounter with Tolkien’s England as an experience mediated by Japanese literary memory.
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ORCID ID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5581-8366
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