Focusing on new material regarding world literature and translation by Tosaka Jun (1900-1945), this article discusses how Tosaka viewed and made sense of world literature and translation in the era of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
First, I examine “The Theory of Translation (Honyaku no Riron)", published in “The Mita Newpaper (Mita Shinbun)", to confirm Tosaka's view of translation. In his analysis, Tosaka criticized the linguistic standpoint of translation theory in the same period, and it's theory of untranslatability, arguing that it would become a reinforcement of wartime fascism. Tosaka regarded translation, not as a “language", but as the “translation of thought", and considered that internationalism could only be achieved when the “thought" in a discourse or work can be translated.
Next, I look at “The Character of Japanese Literature; Perspectives on World Literature (Nihonbungaku no Seikaku; Sekaibungaku no Kanten ni Tsuite)", published in “The Monthly Report (Gekkan Bunsho)", to confirm Tosaka's theory of world literature. There he considers national literature that whose literary spirit is diminished when it is translated, whereas world literature retains its literary spirit and thought even after its translation. Tosaka's ideological stance is, therefore, that it is necessary to critically rethink the everyday life by a constant questioning of its translatability and the acquisition of “internationalism" through world literature.
Finally, I suggest that we can connect Tosaka's translation and world literature theory to recent studies of world literature.
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