Jääajast jäävaheajani. Abe Kōbō „Daiyon kanpyōki” Agu Sisaski ja Arkadi Strugatski tõlgetes

From the ice age to the inter ice age: Abe Kōbō’s Daiyon kanpyōkiin the translations of Agu Sisask and Arkady Strugatsky This article examines how Abe Kōbō’s science fiction novel Daiyon kanpyōki (“Inter Ice Age 4”) reached Estonian readers in 1966 through Agu Sisask’s translation. Having come to Sisask by somewhat accidental means, the work became an important part of the local literary canon, influencing theoretical debates on the nature of science fiction and challenging the Western-centric tendencies characteristic of such discussions. A year before the Estonian translation appeared in print, Arkady Strugatsky’s Russian translation was published (1965). In addition to serving as the basis for several indirect translations issued in the Soviet Union, it also functioned as the model for the Serbian and Hungarian versions. Translations based on the Russian version are easily identifiable, as Strugatsky mistakenly rendered the word kanpyōki (‘inter ice age’, i.e. ‘interglacial’) as ‘ice age’. A comparative analysis of the Estonian and Russian translations reveals numerous stylistic and lexical similarities between the two versions. Both Strugatsky’s and Sisask’s texts rely on the earliest version of Abe’s work, published in 1958–59 in the journal Sekai, aimed at Japanese intellectuals; this version differs in several important respects from the revised and expanded edition cited as the source text in Loomingu Raamatukogu. In addition to examining the cultural-historical background and comparing the translations, the study highlights the central role of the translator in shaping the literary canon. Whereas in the English-speaking world the so-called great triumvirate of Japanese authors (Tanizaki, Kawabata, Mishima) predominated, in Estonia Sisask first introduced readers to writers of a younger generation (Abe, Endō). The comparison of the translations and the contextualization within literary history demonstrate how the choices of a single translator – Agu Sisask – significantly influenced the reception of Japanese literature in Estonia and shaped the preferences of the local readership.