reflection - olivia

I thought Seidensticker shared a lot of interesting thoughts and experiences of his translating. I agree with his statement that sometimes Japanese writing seems a bit vague and more unclear than maybe English writing. It's smart that he developed the concrete strategy of comparing the number of nouns in a sentence. He also talks about the issue of using the proper noun vs changing the translation a bit in order to keep the rhythm of the text. In my opinion, the flow and rhythm would be more important because that is more indicative of a writer's style and writing rather than a name. Like some of the other readings we've done, Seidensticker also discusses the idea of a translating being better than the original text or being improved from the original. I think I still don't believe that the original should be approved upon unless that is what the author wnats. 

I also thought it was interesting how Seidensticker says that he likes flawed authors and that his personal favorite is Kafu, because of their shared love for the city of Tokyo. It makes me think about what is important in writing and also in translating that work.