Japanese Translation Cecilia Brainard's World War 2 Novel
This novel, my first, is a coming of age of a young girl in the Philippines during World War Two. The book has a rich publication history. It started off with the title of Song of Yvonne, published in 1991. It was picked up by Dutton/Penguin in 1994, then it was published by the University of Michigan Press and remains in print there. The University of Santo Tomas Publishing House re-released the Philippine edition in 2019. The novel has also been translated into Turkish, Portuguese, Arabic, North Macedonia, and (forthcoming) Azerbaijani.
This Japanese edition is particularly welcome because the novel is about the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. The following excerpt from the AP review gives you a good idea about whet that novel is about. What I find most impressive with this Japanese edition is that the translator (academic Dr. Takuya Matsuda) and the publisher Genki Shobou published this translation with the goal of informing the younger Japanese about the truth of World War Two.
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Associated Press book review:
When the Rainbow Goddess Wept by Cecilia Brainard is the tearful, seldom-told story of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II as seen through the eyes of a young Filipino girl. The many hardships that 9‑year-old Yvonne Macaraig and her family are faced with teach her the value of hope and endurance.
From the beginning, the war deals Yvonne terrible losses. In order to evade the Japanese, Yvonne’s family must leave their home in the city and go into hiding in the countryside. Yvonne is separated from her aunt and cousin, and her eccentric grandfather, Lolo Peping, is killed in the first attack on the city. While fleeing the Japanese, Yvonne’s baby brother is born and tragically dies for lack of medical attention.
Yvonne’s engineer father joins the guerilleros, a group of Filipino soldiers who are trying to defeat the Japanese invaders. For years Yvonne is forced to live in guerillero-held villages, constantly fearing for the safety of herself and her family. The war and the anguish that accompanies it forces Yvonne to group up quickly and to deal with the harsh practicalities of life while still struggling to maintain some of her childhood.
Laydan, Yvonne’s friend and servant, tells her ancient stories of gods, goddesses and enchanted mortals. After Laydan passes away, Yvonne is able to keep hope alive among her war-torn friends and family by repeating the stories Laydan had taught her. Yvonne’s favorite of these stories is that of the Rainbow Goddess, who always makes sure that after even the most terrible rainstorm, a beautiful rainbow will illuminate the sky.
Brainard’s wonderful novel shows how war brings out the best and the worst in people as it describes both the atrocities and the heroics that befall her characters. The novel’s theme, the vast cost of war on the human spirit is illustrated well by Yvonne’s tragic loss of innocence. In the words of her grandfather, Lolo Peping: “Before man sinned, he was innocent. Man’s original sin wasn’t eating the forbidden fruit; it was Cain’s murder of his brother.”
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