作家を解き放つ

English translation: A frees B from C

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Japanese term or phrase:AはCからBを解き放つ
English translation:A frees B from C
Entered by: Roddy Stegemann

14:29 Jan 13, 2010
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. / historical themes in Japanese television
Japanese term or phrase: 作家を解き放つ
Please find below a passage taken from Tsurumi Shunsuke's History of Japan's Postwar Popular Culture 1945-1980.

「日本の降伏とその後に来た占領とは、明治維新と明治政府とを同一のものと見る見方から作家を解き放ちました。こうして戦後の作家たちは明治維新を、その規模においても、また構想においても、そのあとにできた明治政府よりもはるかに大きいものとしてみる見方を身につけるようになりました。」

What concerns me in this passage is the proper interpretation of the first sentence. The way I want to interpret it, and the way it is written are very different. Is it saying that postwar Japanese authors interpreted the relationship between Japan's surrender and the subsequent occupation with that of the Meiji Reformation and the Meiji government. If this is what it is saying, could someone please break it down grammatically, because I am having a difficult time.
Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 07:41
relieved novelists from preoccupation
Explanation:
まず文の構造ですが、特に込み入ったものではありません。

「降伏と占領」は「見方」から「作家」を解き放ちました。

が基本的な構造です。内容としては、2、3世代前にあった明治維新と明治政府とを同一のものと見る見方を終戦まではしていたけれども、目の前にある終戦と占領は、明治維新と明治政府と一見比肩し得るようなものでありながら同一ではなかった。その新しい知見で明治維新を見直すと、明治政府に対して持っていた否定的な考えから解き放たれて、維新を肯定的に見る事ができるようになった、という意味だと思います。

前後の内容からこれでよいかどうか確認してください。
Selected response from:

Yuki Okada
Canada
Local time: 07:41
Grading comment
I would like to thank everyone for responding, but especially to OKADA Yuki for rendering clear the source of my confusion. Not only did she set me straight with regard to the correct grammatical parsing of the sentence in question, but she provided a fairly accurate interpretation of the text with only partial access to the entire context.

This said, I do prefer Rob Pott's English translation of the word 解き放つ.

If I have understood Tsurumi's thesis properly, he is arguing that the Meiji Reformation was never completed, as it was cut short by Japan's war with Russia. Whereupon the reformation was abducted by the Japanese government in power. The reformation was then reawakened by Japan's defeat and the subsequent occupation.

橋守岩人
Roddy Stegemann
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2freed novelists from the perception that ...
RobPott
4brought evolutionary perception to Japanese intellectuals of the time
humbird
3relieved novelists from preoccupation
Yuki Okada


  

Answers


21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
relieved novelists from preoccupation


Explanation:
まず文の構造ですが、特に込み入ったものではありません。

「降伏と占領」は「見方」から「作家」を解き放ちました。

が基本的な構造です。内容としては、2、3世代前にあった明治維新と明治政府とを同一のものと見る見方を終戦まではしていたけれども、目の前にある終戦と占領は、明治維新と明治政府と一見比肩し得るようなものでありながら同一ではなかった。その新しい知見で明治維新を見直すと、明治政府に対して持っていた否定的な考えから解き放たれて、維新を肯定的に見る事ができるようになった、という意味だと思います。

前後の内容からこれでよいかどうか確認してください。

Yuki Okada
Canada
Local time: 07:41
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 7
Grading comment
I would like to thank everyone for responding, but especially to OKADA Yuki for rendering clear the source of my confusion. Not only did she set me straight with regard to the correct grammatical parsing of the sentence in question, but she provided a fairly accurate interpretation of the text with only partial access to the entire context.

This said, I do prefer Rob Pott's English translation of the word 解き放つ.

If I have understood Tsurumi's thesis properly, he is arguing that the Meiji Reformation was never completed, as it was cut short by Japan's war with Russia. Whereupon the reformation was abducted by the Japanese government in power. The reformation was then reawakened by Japan's defeat and the subsequent occupation.

橋守岩人
Roddy Stegemann
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
brought evolutionary perception to Japanese intellectuals of the time


Explanation:
In a nutshell, postwar occupation by McArthur's Army is nothing to do with the way writer or intellectuals (of that time) perceived Meiji Restoration-Meiji Government relationship. Tsurumi quoted this background info. rather rhetorically (although I need more context from the book to be certain on this).

Having said that, such a drastic national experience as foreign occupation greately affected many aspects of Japanese, and on many aspects of Meiji R and G relationship the way intellectuals of the time understood was likewise tested.

Obviously conventional thought (whatever Tsurumi explained in that book) on the Meiji was prevailing one at the time (or previously), but the US Occupation which is never known to Japanese was quite liberating experience which brought evolutionary change to their (Japanese intellectuals of the time) thoughts.
HTH

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Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-13 15:32:25 GMT)
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答え、長いですね、でも字余りにはなりませんでしたよ。

humbird
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 20
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
freed novelists from the perception that ...


Explanation:
Yuki Okada's explanation seems very good to me, but perhaps I would go for a translation along these lines.

RobPott
Local time: 23:41
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Steven Smith: Sounds good
7 mins

agree  David Eunice: But a compromise -- "released novelists from their preoccupation with" -- or even something along the lines "broke the spell of preoccupation with"
10 days
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