Meridith McKinney

 Alexander Pfau

Meridith McKinney


    Professor McKinney was a wonderful presenter, her knowledge of the Pillow book was boundless, and her accent was sensational. Going through a summary of the Pillow book, her presentation helped us understand the intricacies of Japanese court in the 1200's. One of the major things I would like to highlight however was her style of translating. In complete contrast to Cannibal translations, McKinney's style is to channel the voice of the writer above all else, to translate as if the writer had written in the new language. In doing so, she pointed out errors in translation through other translators like Whitehouse and Brazell. Bringing it back to our previous speaker, Whitehouse's errors can be traced back to the fact that he is not a woman, and therefore does not understand what situations the main heroine was placed in, similar to how a person with hearing might not be able to translate a situation a deaf person could create.

    As for McKinney's works, the thing that struck me most was was in her "Translating Classical Prose" article, she outlines the idea that translating prose is arguably harder or as difficult as translating poetry. Whether it is about understanding historical context or finding grammatical structures not present in poetry, it follows that the intricacies of language are much more difficult to follow through a much larger text. Her translation of the Pillowbook, while having the issue like our previous translators of  having maybe too much content, is still wonderfully crafted, and captures the eloquence of high class life. It was a joy to have her come and present, especially in the language I am studying.

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