JAPAN TOPICS VIDEO
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Irina Melnikova
Prof. Melnikova was born in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) in 1957. She entered Leningrad State University’s Oriental Study Department in 1974. In 1979, she began postgraduate courses in Japanese Literature. In 1983, she received her PhD. Her thesis topic was "Prose Genres in Japanese Literature from the 18th Century."
She worked as a lecturer in Japanese language and literature at Leningrad State University from 1982 to 1987, and she worked as an Associate Professor at the same University from 1987 to 1996. During the 1990s, she came to Japan to work as a researcher at Rikkyo University in Tokyo for six months.
In April 1996, she became an Associate Professor of Russian language and culture at Doshisha Institute for Language and Culture in Kyoto. Since April 2000, she has been a Professor in the same Institute. Her translations include Sarashina Nikki (a diary from the 11th century) and works of Ihara Saikaku.
Q: Why did you start studying Japanese literature?
A: I chose Japanese literature as a major because it was connected to the history of my family. My grandmother was born in a small Russian town, named Blagoveshchensk, near the river Amur and the border with China. She often told me about a Japanese consul and beautiful Japanese girls in kimono. They looked very sophisticated in her small town. It was very interesting and sounded like a fairy tale. Japan seemed closer to me than other countries because of my grandmother's stories.
Q: Did you decide to learn the Japanese language before entering university?
A: In Russia we have to decide our specialization very early. You have to decide your major in the first year of university. So, I decided to select the Japanese language and Japanese literature. I still feel very happy when I remember Prof. Evgenia Pinus. She was a professor in Saint Petersburg University who translated the first part of Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) into Russian. She was my teacher of Japanese literature and told me I had to study not only contemporary Japanese literature, but also classics. She also urged me to learn the Japanese language of the Edo period to translate some pieces of Edo period literature, which actually became my specialization. I was very lucky that I met that professor.
Q: Were you able to get enough materials to study at that time?
A: I was happy to enter the university in the middle of the seventies when cultural exchanges began. St. Petersburg University received a famous donation of books from Prince Mikasa through the Japan Foundation. In fact, I used those books to write my master's thesis.
Q: Was learning old Japanese literature politically safer than studying modern Japanese literature?
A: Yes, indeed! I was going to translate some pieces by Endo Shusaku when I was a student, and Prof. Pinus told me, "I like Endo Shusaku, too. But, you know, in the Soviet Union, the translation of Mishima Yukio is banned. And tomorrow they may ban Endo Shusaku. Then, what will you do? What can you do? Please select something from the 18th Century." This was one very important reason. But also, I liked Endo Shusaku. I really liked him.
Q: Was reading Mishima's books permitted at that time?
A: Yes, if you read them in Japanese. But no Russian translations were published. Actually, all Mishima's translations were made after perestroika. I suppose he seemed too nationalistic.
Q: Are there any restrictions like that today?
A: Of course not. I think that now in Russia, as in any other free country, there is only the problem of money rather than the problem of political censoring. Researchers need money.
Q: How do you like Kyoto?
A: I see many young pretty girls in yukata (informal kimono for summer wear) during the Gion matsuri (one of the three major festivals in Kyoto) in the summer, just like the ones my grandmother told me about. Kyoto is something special. There are so many ikebana schools and tea ceremony schools, and even now people prefer to go to their lessons in kimono.
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