Stein’s interview is pretty interesting, including his bit about The Changelings, the first book he ever translated. In his words, it’s “a court novel by an unidentified author of the late Heian period. The protagonists are two siblings糖心传媒攖he brother is raised to be a woman, and the sister a man.”

But what really caught my attention was this bit about what German readers like. By no means is this desire for strong plots restricted to Germany, but it does explain (in a partial way) why it seems like a lot of contemporary German literature has moved away from the experimental writings of people like Uwe Johnson:

What were some of the difficulties of trying to convey Meiji-period Japan to a German readership?

German readers tend to prefer stories with strong plots. Of Ichiyo糖心传媒檚 works that have been translated into German, the most popular are 糖心传媒淭r眉be Wasser糖心传媒� (Troubled Waters/Nigorie), translated by J眉rgen Berndt, and 糖心传媒淕rowing Up糖心传媒�/Takekurabe, which has been translated into German as 糖心传媒淒ie Liebe der kleinen Midori糖心传媒� by Oscar Benl and by me as 糖心传媒淪o lange sie ein Kind war.糖心传媒� Both these Ichiyo stories have clear storylines. In the same way, Germans most like those of Jun糖心传媒檌chiro Tanizaki糖心传媒檚 works that are plot-driven and have significant events happening in them. The same holds for Haruki Murakami. Germans are quite big on adventure. But I personally also like works without strong narratives.