Finished:
32 page Epistolary paper - finalized, edited, sent to prof wed
27 page Kotani transcription - done done done
12 pages of Translation paper
24 pages Kotani translation
20 sentence diagrams

Left to do:
5 pages Translation paper (thought it will probably be around 10 more)

I know my updates have been so very very boring - my whole life has revolved around being able to get work done and walking the dog.  I'd never evern translated anything other than a couple of pages, so attempting roughly 30 pages of theoretical Japanese seemed practically impossible.

Yet, it got done.  So for those who might be curious about what I was translating, here are some choice quotes:



from the intro:

フェミニズム運動と理論の変遷、激動の二十年・・・・・だからこそ、この激動の時代にさらされ、くぐりぬけ、サバイバルしてきたSF小説「闇の左手」とエッセイ「ジェンダーは必然か？」は、今もって重要な作品である。このふたつの作品は、「ひとりの作家」にかかわるテクスト/コンテクスト、小説/批評、表現/解釈といったさまざまな問題を提出しているばかりではない。いっぽうは原型のまま、もういっぽうは何度も書き直されながら、ダイナミックなサバイバルの歴史を示し、さらにフェミニズムの歴史をも映しとっているのだから。

Changes in feminist movement and theory, twenty years of upheaval … both the SF novel The Left Hand of Darkness and the essay "Is Gender Necessary?" were exposed in that upheaval, passed through it, survived, and are still significant works. These two works have done more than present the various problems between text/context, novel/criticism, expression/interpretation that influenced "one author." While the former has been left as it is and the latter has been revised many times, they reflect not only a history of dynamic survival, but also the history of feminism.


from the section discussing historical androgyny:

たとえば、とりわけアンドロギュヌスの完全性が、我々の愛書の対象となりうるのは、美学であるかもしれない。美とは何か？。。。。。という「美」それ自体を成立させているイデオロギーがフェミニズム理論のターゲットとなって久しい。我々が「美しい」と感じる感性そのものがすでにして、家父長的権力システムによって保証されている何ものかなのだ。。。。むろん、そのような命題を視野にいれても、なおその古典的枠組内部の「美」に、すでに以下のような、不穏な水脈が流れ込んでいたのも事実factなのである。

For example, the fact that especially androgynous perfection can be the object of our writerly love may be aesthetic. What is this thing beauty? The ideology that forms this "beauty" in itself has long been the target of feminist theory. Because our sensitivity toward feeling "beautiful" has been guaranteed by means of patriarchal power systems…. Of course, it is a fact that this turbulent waterway, is flowing into the classical framework of beauty, even when we look at a thesis like this.


from the section "summarizing" the story:

両性人であるこの異星人の実態を目の当たりにして戸惑わされるゲンリー。彼は、やがて、この過酷な地で、両性具有者エストラーベンと逃亡の旅を余儀なくされる。つまり、「冬」や｢両性具有者｣に直面することにより、ゲンリー・アイは「性差」という問題に踏み込んで行かざるをえない。しかも、そこには実際の「女性」は存在しない。「女性」は、「冬」なる隠喩構造の内側か、あるいは、両性具有者の一部分かに分解された状態で潜んでいる。このようにゲセンの旅とは、ひとまず、｢女性｣の不在空間を通して、我々にとっても不可解な「女性性」を模索する旅と言えるかもしれない。

Genly is bewildered by witnessing the reality of these aliens who have both sexes. Before long he is forced to go on an escape journey with the hermaphrodite Estraven in this harsh land. That is to say, by means of a confrontation between "winter" and "hermaphrodite", Genly Ai cannot help step into the problem on "sexual difference." Moreover, actual "females" do not exist there. "Females" are possibly lurking inside the metaphoric structure of "Winter," or in a part of the hermaphrodite in a dismantled state. In this way, Gethen's journey may be the journey exploring the mysterious "femininity" through the space where "females" are absent.


oh, and then she brings up Jung:

ユングのいうアニマこそゲンリー・アイ内部の女性性であり、ゲセンをめぐる旅こそアイの自己発見の旅であり、アイの心理的構造は、そのままゲセンの世界観に他ならない。アイを前にして、女性性に転じるエストラーバンこそ、アイ自身のアニマなのだ。

Jung's term 'anima' is the feminine gender inside Genly Ai, and the travel around Gethen the journey for Ai's self discovery, and finally Ai's psychological structure is Gethen's view of the world. Before Ai, Estraven (when gendered feminine) was the anima of Ai himself.

and then there are like 20 pages after that


also posted to dreamwidth | you can reply here or there | um, but don't worry, i'm still an lj girl