Gifts and preambles from the sea

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Translator's introduction

Anne Morrow Lindbergh's "GIFT FROM THE SEA" has been translated into more than 70 editions of Kenichi Yoshida's "Gifts from the Sea" and Keiko Ochiai's "Gifts from the Sea" in 1994. I read Mr. Yoshida several times, but Mr. Ochiai, who recently read it lightly, had a taste of feminine language. Translation is a creation different from the original, and there are as many works as there are translators.

I read the original text of the "50th Anniversary Edition" on the Kindle edition a few years ago. It has a preamble to the author's youngest daughter and writer, Reeve Lindbergh, and her own voice in Audible is the same, with the exception of three minor differences.

　　　　　　　　            　　　Gifts from the sea Preamble

My mother published this book over fifty years ago, but I think I've read it fifty times since then. This is not an exaggeration. "Gifts from the Sea" first appeared when I was ten years old, and in this edition I am sixty years old. I'm ashamed to confess that I hadn't read this book until I was in my twenties. However, this is not uncommon for children of any writer, not just me. Now I read at least once a year, sometimes more than once. Read this book throughout the year and at every season of your life. However, I have never felt that this 1955 mother's book had lost its freshness and that the wisdom contained in it could no longer be applied to my life and what I had learned over time. Absent.

My mother wrote this while staying in a small cottage near the sandy beaches of Captiva on the Gulf coast of Florida. Many wanted to know where and where the hut was. But by the time a Florida friend first found the place, he said the hut had disappeared long ago. Knowing that story was true for a long time, I nevertheless spent the last week on Captiva with a book "Gifts from the Sea" that my mother wrote in 1955.

Just to "pass through" myself (Note 0). I wasn't looking for a writer's hut on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, but the writer's death and the history of heritage left behind, celebrations and events related to publicized family history, and our family. It was to find out some of the private revelations and discussions about. I turned to her again for help.

I felt that I needed her wisdom and encouragement again to move myself forward. And, as she hoped and expected, she didn't disappoint me. No matter which chapter or page you open in "Gifts from the Sea," my words give readers the opportunity to take a break and live more slowly. Whatever the environment, this book allows people to calm down and rest in the "now and present" time. If you read even the slightest, if not all, of them, the reader will live at a more peaceful speed, away from everyday life, for some time. It seemed to me that the fluctuations, flows and even intonations of her words argued for the peaceful and unavoidable movements of the sea.

I'm not sure if my mother wrote this consciously, or if it was a natural result of the days she lived on the beach while writing it. Whatever the reason, after reading just a few pages of this book, I relax in the pulsation of the beach and begin to feel myself as something that is with the ebb and flow of the tide. Just like a piece of a drifting ship floating in the magnificent rhythm of the ocean of this cosmos. This sensation is deep and certain in itself, but in this book there is more than peace of mind, more than the comfort of the ebb and flow of the tide that comes from quiet life and quiet words. Underlying all of these is "firm and unwavering strength."

Every time I read this book, I am surprised to see my mother's "unwavering strength". Perhaps she had forgotten this quality or took it for granted. She was delicate and always seemed delicate, and I remember her intellect and sensitivity. However, when I read this book again, the illusion of fragility that tends to occur in these personalities is omitted, and the truth remains. In any case, she raised five children in 1932 after tragically losing her first son (Note 1). In 1930, he obtained America's first first-class glider pilot license, and in 1934, he was awarded the "National Geographic Hubbard Medal" (Note 2) for adventures related to aviation and exploration. Became the first woman to be.

In 1938, he wrote "Listen!" Based on these adventures. He won the "National Book Award" (Note 4) for "Kazega" (Note 3), and has remained the name of a best-selling author throughout his life. When she was 65, we skied in Vermont, and when she was 70, we traversed the Swiss Alps. Five years later, at the age of 75, he hiked to the Haleakala Crater on Maui, Hawaii, and spent the night in the crater with a few children and friends.

I remember looking up at the bright, glittering stars overhead in the darkness of a huge hemisphere. Meanwhile, my mother stood firmly in size 5 hiking shoes and pointed us to the navigator circle (Note 5) while checking. Capella, Caster, Polox, Procian, Sirius ... These were the first stars she remembered to fly in the dark as a pioneering aviator 50 years ago.

In any case, "gifts from the sea" offer an unusual kind of "freedom". It's not easy to know or explain, but I think this freedom is the real reason why this book has been so loved and read until recent years. That "freedom," as I say, is "freedom to choose to continue to accept everything," just as my mother did, the joy, sadness, success, failure, suffering, enjoyment, and life that falls into life. Of course, it is the "freedom to accept everything" of the changes that always occur. It exists in honest introspection based on her own experience, and in the attitude of actively responding to the outside world and living according to the "silence" at the center of the inside world. Yes, and indispensable for all of us to live "now and here," my mother quietly placed this "freedom" in her own life, in the lives of all. She has discovered a new way of life for herself and for others. This 50th Anniversary Edition may allow all readers of the new generation to follow her. It is a pleasure for me to know that it will happen.

Reeve Lindberg at St. Jones Bar, Vermont, United States

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　　　　　　　　　　           　　  Postscript of "Preamble"

A translation of the "preamble" of "GIFT FROM THE SEA" "Gift from the Sea, 50th Anniversary Edition" written by Anne Morrow Lindbergh's youngest daughter, Reeve Lindbergh. Well, with my talent and current ability, this is the mountain of Seki. For the time being, the whole sentence has been completed, so I'll give you a few "postscripts". Most of the reason why it took a month and a half to spend more than 1000 words (13 sheets of 400-character manuscript paper in Japanese) is due to the usual laziness.

I decided to work on this when I tried to challenge B. Russell's "Authority and Individual", such as "The Last Flight of Lilliental" by an American reporter who was mentioned in the past. Similarly, I was just interested in Charles Lindbergh's way of life, I was attracted to the writings of his wife Anne Morrow, and I was fascinated by the voice and images of her daughter Reeve. .. To add one more conservatively, no one seemed to translate this yet.

And what can be said in common with the first two is that they loved "adventure," "freedom," and finally "nature." What I can say to Reeve is that I found the essence of my mother Anne's way of life in "Gifts from the Sea" and felt like I was throwing it straight at me.

Needless to say, probably more than 90% of the translation work is in the Japanese world. There are as many translations as there are translators, and the quality depends on the translator's personality, personality, way of life, and, in the end, personality.

While proceeding with the work, I was glancing at "How should translation be done" by Naoki Inose. In the obi of the Iwanami Shinsho, there are vigorous words such as "Translation is an immortal work" in Hiraga Gennai, "Translation is a style" by Futabatei Shimei, and "Translation is not impossible" by Inose himself. There is. I didn't hesitate to agree with Futaba-tei, tilted my head a little toward Inose, and nodded loudly to Gennai, who described Inose as "exaggerated."

Immortality means immortality, but even such a Heppoko translator knows that there are certainly many such translations in this world. Of course, my translation is like a grain of sand mixed with Kinsha, such as Tsunekawasha (Note: 6)), and it is neither immortal nor widespread nor immortal. In a sense, I would appreciate it if you could read it while giving up as "play" with a little care, which will be updated until you are satisfied with it.

For some reason, at the same time, I picked up a "gift from the sea" on the familiar sandy beach ... I decided to ponder various things while drinking some of the Oita barley shochu "Iichiko".

July 25, 2019, in the cool starry sky after the rainy season in Matsuyama

Hiroshi Watanabe

* Note 0: The original "Reeve" means the author's name "Reeve" and the verb "reeve" "fix a rope etc. through a hole". The translator interprets it as "stabilizing himself," but he is unable to find a suitable Japanese language.

* Note 1: Lindbergh kidnapping case. On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (1 year and 8 months old), the eldest son of aviator Charles Lindbergh, famous for his first successful solo non-landing flight in the Atlantic Ocean, was kidnapped from his home in New Jersey. To. A letter was left on the scene requesting a ransom of $ 50,000. After a 10-week search and ransom negotiations with the kidnapper, a truck driver found his eldest son dead near the mansion on May 12.

* Note 2: The Hubbard Medal is an award given by the National Geographic Society to those who have made outstanding expeditions, discoveries, and research. The name of the award comes from Gardiner Green Hubbard, the first president of the National Geographic Society.

* Note 3: Anne Morrow Lindbergh's second work following "Tsubasa, Kita ni" (translated by Taeko Nakamura). (Translated by Taeko Nakamura)

* Note 4: One of the most prestigious literary awards in the United States. Founded on March 15, 1950 by a group of publishers, it is now run by the National Book Foundation. As of 2004, there are four categories: novel, non-fiction, poetry, and children's literature, and the winners will receive a supplementary prize of $ 10,000 and a crystal statue.

* Note 5: Navigation that identifies the position of an aircraft by observing celestial bodies such as bright stars and constellations in a space such as night when the land is invisible.

* Note 6: Number of sand grains on the Ganges River