Japanske fortællinger i det norske 1800-talsarkiv

Abstract

Searching the Norwegian National Library archives, this article examines the first Japanese literature that was translated into Norwegian in the 19th century. With the help of digital analyses, the article first investigates the mentioning of Japanese literature in the written sources, before it proceeds to identifying and analysing examples of translations in the digitised archive. As Ika Kaminka has argued, the earliest translations are from 1885 by the explorer Carl Bock. In 1890, the Japan-correspondent Dorthea Bassøe then sent home tales from Japanese buddhist sermons to newspapers in Norway. Later, she republished these moral tales together with her translations of folk tales and a historical legend that reflects the underlying moral of its portrayed heroes. The article argues that the genre choices of both of these early translators reflect a long philological tradition in collecting old tales and folk literature from the Orient as well as the Occident.