Tuesday 20 October 2020

Annex IV analysis of the novel Candy-Candy Final Story

At last!

(Like so many others) I had been waiting almost a decade for the official translation of Keiko Nagita's novel "Candy-Candy Final Story" into my native language:


キャンディ・キャンディ Final Story 上 ・ 下

Candy-Candy Final Story (Japanese original) 

Two volumes - published by Shodensha, 2010 *

Translated to Spanish

Candy-Candy - La Historia Definitiva (Keiko Nagita)

One single volume - by Arechi Publishing House, 2020



(*First and above all, I would like to take a moment and openly thank all those fans, who during the last few years, spent many hours translating sections or selflessly shared their original content with the rest of the fandom: Esther Rinoa, Mariela Rivera, Karen Ucsg, Lurdes, Charmaine, Geobacter, Foro Andrew of course and so many more who with dedication made the novel closer to the fans before the arrival of the official translation.) 


Also, many thanks to the Arechi Publishing House and the translators -María Ferrer and Mónica Rodríguez for taking the task and bringing the novel to the Hispanic public - fans and readers. 

I am left with a quote from María who comments: "We didn’t use a literal translation because this is not a manual" it is a narrative and in literature, the translation needs to be flexible to preserve the author's style and the tone of voice of the characters, which is essential"



... it's not a literal translation,  

because this is a translation of literature ...




* In addition to this, for the Spanish-speaking public, Nagita gave a "spot-on" preface where she begins talking about "the impossible dream" reference to "Don Quixote" -a masterpiece of Spanish literature, written by Miguel de Cervantes as a satirical critic to the Spanish society of the seventeenth century (whose metaphors could still be applied today) with a writing style (among others) full of scorn and sarcasm and black humor that was and continues to be, considered by many, a revolution in literature: 

  • The first modern novel.  

(...)











WARNING 


The following analysis contains (atypical) “SPOILERS”. If you wish to read the novel 

"Candy-Candy Final Story" and discover the narrative’s twist plots by your initiative, 

then it is recommended not to read beyond this point.







7 comments:

  1. Hello!!! When we can read this amazing article?

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    1. just updating, hope you can check it today!

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  2. Hello!!! When we can read this amazing article?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Katika, it is all good and set to go, check know if you can access the documents,
      if you have any other issue let me know,
      thanks

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  3. Bequi, eres una genio. Te sigo desde hace 8 años, cuando sacaste tu primer post, fue allí donde me enteré lo de Final Story. Voy a leer este último ensayo que presentas, por lo que veo dice anexo IV, imagino que debe ser una sección de un trabajo mayor, parece una tesis de filología o análisis literario, me intriga saber que contenía las otras secciones de tu trabajo o si es parte de una publicación mayor sobre la obra Candy Candy. Espero poder escribirte pronto tras la lectura de tu material, estoy haciendo un ensayo de corte historiográfico sobre el shojo y su recepción en América Latina en los 80 y 90, y Candy es la madre de toda esa movida. Gracias por tu trabajo, por compartirlo y seguir adelante con tu propuesta. Un saludo, Natalia Jaira

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    1. gracias Natalia, por tus amables palabras, esta es la entrada del documento en ingles, el castellano está en la otra anterior, http://journal.bequi.com/2020/10/anexo-iv-analisis-de-la-novela-candy.html -
      estas en lo cierto, cuando pongo "anexo VI", los tres anteriores son el manga anexoI, las ilustraciones anexo II y el anime anexo III es todo parte de un largo estudio, además de un documento principal de 185 páginas, 4 resúmenes y 3 documentos de referencias//
      este proyecto está un poco estancado de momento porque me toma más tiempo del que tenía pensado, es casi como otro hijo pequeño que constantemente pide atención,
      de todas formas leyendo este documento presente (hasta el final) y empezando tus propios indagaciones en la cultura popular, y la historia japonesa llegarás a entender mucho más fácilmente el manga o el anime.
      Suerte con tus estudios!

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  4. ALL the content/scenes (presented in the Candy-Candy saga) comes from a multitude of fragmented concepts (as if they were shrapnel), we only get particles of this content, but they are very sharp, very clear and define pieces, coming from Japanese cultural items (the very best) think of “the top 100 Japanese (...?)”; writers, philosophers, politicians, scientists, personalities, historical figures, national monuments/parks, literature/novels/poems, paintings/pottery, arts, items/national treasure/jewelry, film/documents/theater, mythology, history, fables, folklore, myths and legend (...) anything and everything that it is “common knowledge/trivial” to a native Japanese.

    (...) This is also why it is almost impossible to explain everything, because the novel is not about “someone explaining it to you”, but for each individual person to “discover and to feel it individually by itself”. To help you further to understand the storyline in the saga, you need to have (or build-up your own) “common knowledge of Japanese culture”
    The reader is advised to start compiling their own database //
    Bibliography
    (The list is neither complete nor limited in these examples)

    Classical Japanese literature Books/Novels
    Bushidō: the soul of Japan by Nitobe Inazō
    Novels by Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916) complete works//(I Am a Cat, 1905), Botchan (1906) and Kokoro (1914) among others
    (*or any recompilation even if in recent years of any “folk tales”, “mythology”, “fables”, “terror”, ghost/kwaidan and supernatural spirits/kamis”, “legends” and so on)

    Japanese History Books
    *(novel) Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (?)//Takekurabe by Higuchi Ichiyō in 1896 is a far better choice, although sometimes difficult to acquire


    Film Archive (Japanese classical cinema)
    Also - many of Japanese classic cinema mentioned directly or indirectly in the storyline - Ugetsu (1953), Kwaidan (1964), Keisuke Kinoshita (1951), the Noriko trilogy (with Tokyo Story (1953), Banshun (Late Spring), 1949 and Bakushu (Early Summer), 1951) - An Inlet of Muddy Water” 1953, Till We Meet Again (1950), The Life of Oharu (1952), Gate of Hell (1953) … and so on
    *The Akiro Kurosawa movie set is also a must to understand Japan and Japanese cinema
    - or any classical Japanese movie done before 1980 should do!
    1985 Kenji Miyazawa's Night on the Galactic Express (animation/not for children)
    2008 Okuribito (Departures)

    Documentaries and other Video Archive
    *Gekido no showashi: Okinawa kessen//Battle of Okinawa (1971) it is a documentary/movie (quite difficult to find online nowadays, extremely brutal but worth it, if you have the stomach to see it fully)
    Also, they are several documentaries/real footage about “Nanking”, “area 731” (and so on/ discrete viewing is advised )
    WWI and WWII in the pacific, the Pacific war and the Sino-Japanese war (I & II), also even the Russian-Japanese war:
    The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
    The bombing of Tokyo
    The attack to Pearl Harbor
    The sinking of the battleship Yamato

    Other Asian’s History Books
    Classic History Books

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