Saiichi Maruya


Saiichi Maruya was a Japanese author and literary critic.

Biography

Maruya, whose real name was Saiichi Nemura, was born in Tsuruoka city, Yamagata Prefecture on August 27, 1925. His father was a doctor, and apparently wealthy enough to have a big personal library, which whetted Maruya's literary appetite.
Maruya was mobilized into the Japanese Army in March 1945 when still a high school student, but did not see battlefield action as Japan surrendered shortly thereafter. Following the war's end, he completed his high school studies in Niigata, then in 1947 entered the University of Tokyo to major in English literature, although he also studied classical Japanese literature. To develop his own writing style he began translating English works. He translated Joyce's Ulysses in collaboration with Takamatsu Yūichi and Nagai Reiji and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in 1969. James Joyce's works became a major influence on his writing. After completing his degree, he taught English literature at Kokugakuin University and then at the University of Tokyo. During this time, he wrote several novels, including Ehoba no kao o sakete, Kanata e, and Sasamakura.
Maruya was also an influential literary critic, publishing reviews in the magazine Shukan Asahi and in the Mainichi Shimbun. Maruya said that improving the quality of book reviews in Japan was one of the things he was most proud of. His criticism and essays include Go-Toba In, Nihon bungakushi hayawakari, Asobi jikan and Chūshingura to wa nani ka.
Maruya died of heart failure on October 13, 2012.
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Awards

In 1968 Maruya won the Akutagawa Prize for Toshi no nokori. In 1972 he published Tatta hitori no hanran, for which he won the Tanizaki Prize. He also received the Kawabata Prize, the Kikuchi Kan Prize for Cultural Merit and the Noma Literary Prize, and the Order of Culture, awarded in 2011 by the Emperor of Japan.

Selected works in translation

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