Italian writer detained as child in Japan WWII camp, as known by her translator (Pt. 4)

NAGOYA — When the Italian writer Dacia Maraini visited Japan this June, her translator Noriko Mochizuki was there with her. Since first meeting Maraini about 40 years ago, Mochizuki has translated the now 87-year-old author’s works into Japanese.

She said of translating for Maraini, a leading writer in the field of feminism through the 1970s, “The underlying theme of her works is ‘liberation from prison,’ and her wartime experience in Japan, where she lived from the age of 2 to 9, is strongly reflected in her works.”

This is the last in a four-part series of articles on Maraini, and the following is from a Mainichi Shimbun interview with Mochizuki.

Know the misery of war

Maraini is one of Italy’s most-translated writers, with novels, plays, essays, poems, fairy tales and more having been adapted into languages the world over. I first read her works in the fall of 1982, in preparation for speaking with her in person as she had come to Japan. I had lived in Italy in the 1970s, while Maraini was a leading writer of the generation, responding to the objections of young people that were symbolized in France’s May 1968 unrest. Afterward, in a critique I introduced her as a “unique” woman writer. I was still unfamiliar with feminism, and wanted to express the sense of novelty from Maraini, who had none of the trappings of the female writers of a generation prior.

A turning point for Maraini came when she interviewed a female member of the U.S. Black liberation movement group Black Panthers. This was when she learned of feminism. In the 1970s, she was known as an “angry woman,” appearing at the forefront of demonstrations and authoring works to speak up on behalf of oppressed women who lacked voices.

However, the consistently running theme I have come to see by translating Maraini’s works was “liberation from prison.” Make no mistake, the origin of that theme was her time living in an internment camp for foreigners in Nagoya during the closing years of World War II. This was at the core of her works since before she became acquainted with feminism.

The protagonist in Maraini’s 1962 debut work “La vacanza” (The Vacation, published in English as “The Holiday: a novel”) was a 14-year-old girl, and it was written from the point of view of a person who was imprisoned at a young age. When it was republished in 1998, the main character’s age was revised down to 11. I wonder if this was to overlap the author and character, making her closer to the age when Maraini had actually lived in the internment camp in Nagoya.

In the foreword, Maraini wrote, “All I can say is that once upon a time there was one girl who was scarred by a hateful and barbaric war. She experienced such hunger that she would go crazy for a moldy slice of bread.”

Her recent visit to Japan was at the behest of a group promoting awareness of the “Miyazawa-Lane incident” at Hokkaido Imperial University (now Hokkaido University). She underwent toe surgery shortly before departure, and was walking with a crutch. Her doctor told her to avoid any long trips, and while she canceled all her jobs in Europe, she came to Japan. I think she was singly motivated by a desire to restore the name of Hiroyuki Miyazawa (the student who was arrested by Japan’s Special Higher Police on Dec. 8, 1941, on groundless suspicion of violating the military secrets protection law).

When she met one of the university’s vice presidents, Maraini expressed her wish for the establishment of a monument at the former site of the foreign teachers’ dormitory. This was because of the importance of memories as she mentioned many times during the trip. “When things cease to exist, memories will fade away,” she said. The same is true of the foreigner internment camp in Nagoya, and she likely feels a sense of urgency that once the building is lost, the past will be erased.

Right now, I am translating Maraini’s autobiography “Vita mia” (My Life) which was published last November, scheduled for release by Shinchosha Publishing Co. this November. It opens with a scene of her going from Kyoto to the Nagoya detention camp. I hope that people read this personal account of the misery of war, written with the current state of the world in mind.

(Interview by Kohei Shinkai, Nagoya News Department)

(This is the final part of a 4-part series. Click/tap here for part 1, here for part 2, and here for part 3.)