Who Are You to Speak in My Name? Authors, Translators, and Stolen Voices in Pre-War Japanese Literature

Current trends in literary studies aim to rehabilitate the status of derivative texts which are generally considered of less cultural importance than “creative writing”. However,these concerns stem from a Eurocentric approach to text production: in Japan, translators have been given a high status since the Meiji era and seem far from being “ invisible.” This paper analyzes the negotiation and appropriation of authorial authority in texts with several origins.It presents the case study of Dazai Osamu’s re-writings or hon’an focusing on power dynamics related to authorial status and gender.