Giorgio Amitrano (; born 31 October 1957) is an Italian

Japanologist Japanese studies ( Japanese: ) or Japan studies (sometimes Japanology in Europe), is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanes ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

and

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

, specializing in

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

Life and career

Amitrano grew up in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, graduating from the University of Naples "L'Orientale"; his professors included Maria Teresa Orsi, Luigi Polese Remaggi and

Namkhai Norbu Namkhai Norbu (; 8 December 1938 – 27 September 2018) was a Tibetan Buddhist master of Dzogchen and a professor of Tibetan and Mongolian language and literature at Naples Eastern University. He was a leading authority on Tibetan culture, par ...

. He won a scholarship to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

in 1984. The following year he moved to

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, where he stayed until 1989, also teaching at Osaka University. He currently is

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of Japanese Literature in the Department of Asian, African and Mediterranean Studies at L'Orientale. He also presided the Faculty of Political Science of the same university, where he taught Language and Culture of Japan. In 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nominated him head of the

Italian Cultural Institute The Istituto Italiano di Cultura, the Italian Cultural Institute in English, is a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Italian government. It promotes Italian culture and is involved in the teaching of the Italian language. The creat ...

for a five-year term. He is the translator to

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

of the works of

Banana Yoshimoto is the pen name of Japanese writer . From 2002 to 2015, she wrote her name in hiragana (). Biography Yoshimoto was born in Tokyo on July 24, 1964, and grew up in a liberal family. Her father is the poet and critic Takaaki Yoshimoto, and her sist ...

(alongside Gala Maria Follaco) and

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been bestsellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his ...

, as well as having translated some of the works of

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal a ...

and

Yasushi Inoue was a Japanese writer of novels, short stories, poetry and essays, noted for his historical and autobiographical fiction. His most acclaimed works include '' The Bullfight'' (''Tōgyū'', 1949), ''The Roof Tile of Tempyō'' (''Tenpyō no iraka' ...

. His translations earned him the Alcantara Prize in 1999, the

Noma Award for the Translation of Japanese Literature Noma Award for the Translation of Japanese Literature is a Japanese literary award that is part of the Noma Prize series. It is awarded annually for new translations of modern Japanese literature. It was founded in 1990. Amongst those participatin ...

in 2001, the

Grinzane Cavour Prize The Grinzane Cavour Prize (1989–2009) was an Italian literary award established in 1982 by Francesco Meotto. The annual award ceremony took place in the medieval castle of Grinzane Cavour. The goal of the prize was to attract young people to re ...

in 2008, and the (Special Jury Prize for Literary and Scientific Translation) in 2012. In 2020, he was awarded membership of the Order of the Rising Sun. He is deputy editor of the journal ; since 2004 he has written in the monthly magazine on literary and figurative arts , and he also collaborates to a number of Italian newspapers and cultural publications: , , , ''Alias'', and . As a main author, the Italian School of East Asian Studies published his volume ''The New Japanese Novel: Popular Culture and Literary Tradition in the Work of Murakami Haruki and Yoshimoto Banana'' (1996) and Feltrinelli (1999, expanded in 2007). In 2007, he wrote the introduction to by artist . In 2018, he published with DeA Planeta Libri , where he analyzes present-day Japan between tradition and modernity.

Bibliography

Translations

Atsushi Nakajima was a Japanese author known for his unique style and self-introspective themes. His major works include "The Moon Over the Mountain" and "Light, Wind and Dreams" with the former being published in many Japanese textbooks. During his life he w ...

** [], Marsilio, 1989 *

** ''

Kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running wate ...

'' [], Feltrinelli, 1991 ** ''NP (novel), N.P.'', Feltrinelli, 1993 ** [], Feltrinelli, 1994 ** [], Feltrinelli, 1995 ** ''Amrita (Yoshimoto novel), Amrita'' [], Feltrinelli, 1997 ** ''Honeymoon'' [], Feltrinelli, 1999 ** ''Hardboiled & Hard Luck, H/H'' [], Feltrinelli, 2001 ** [], Feltrinelli, 2003 ** [], Feltrinelli, 2004 ** [], Feltrinelli, 2006 ** [], Feltrinelli, 2008 ** [], Feltrinelli, 2013 *

** '' Tokyo Blues'' [], Feltrinelli, 1993 ** ''Dance Dance Dance (novel), Dance Dance Dance'' [], Giulio Einaudi Editore, Einaudi, 1998 ** [], Einaudi, 2001 ** [], Einaudi, 2005 ** ''Norwegian Wood'', Einaudi, 2006 (new edition of the translation ''Tokyo Blues'') ** [], Einaudi, 2008 ** ''1Q84'', Einaudi, 2011 ** [], illustrated by Lorenzo Ceccotti, Einaudi, 2017 * Kenji Miyazawa ** [], Marsilio, 1994 * Murasaki Shikibu ** [], Einaudi, 1992 *

** [], Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Mondadori, 2000 ** [], Mondadori, 2003 ** [], translated with Gala Maria Follaco, Adelphi Edizioni, Adelphi, 2017 – edition also incorporating [] ** [''Novels and Tales''], Mondadori, 2003 – a compendium of selected works *

** [], Adelphi, 2004 ** [], Adelphi, 2006 * Yukio Mishima ** [], Feltrinelli, 2022

Essays

* ''The New Japanese Novel: Popular Culture and Literary Tradition in the Work of Murakami Haruki and Yoshimoto Banana'', Italian School of East Asian Studies, 1996 * 'The World of Banana Yoshimoto'' Feltrinelli, 1999 (republished in 2007) * 'The_Sound_of_the_Mountain:_a_Family_Falling_Apart''.html" ;"title="The_Sound_of_the_Mountain.html" ;"title="'The Sound of the Mountain">'The Sound of the Mountain: a Family Falling Apart''">The_Sound_of_the_Mountain.html" ;"title="'The Sound of the Mountain">'The Sound of the Mountain: a Family Falling Apart'' Misuzu Shobō, 2007 * [''Iro Iro: Japan Between Pop and Sublime''], DeA Planeta Libri, 2018

Filmography

* Amitrano makes a brief cameo appearance, cameo in the role of a tour guide in the 1997 film '' The Vesuvians'', in the segment by Mario Martone.

References