Hello all!
I’m reading a translation of the fantasy novel, The Way of Kings, and I’m curious about the narration. The English original is written from a third person limited perspective, following one point of view character at a time, and it seems like the translation follows that. However, the narration occasionally drops わたし, generally when the point of view character is thinking, or when the narration makes a note about something relating to the point of view character.
Is this just a quirk of Japanese fiction? Or dors Japanese first person narration just avoid pronouns most of the time?
Here’s an example of the swap. Although this passage starts with , わたし, most sentences use the characters name. Apologies for the ridiculous katakana, this character’s English name is ‘Szeth’.
そもそも〈無をもたらすもの〉など存在するのか？ わたしを罰した者たちは、存在しないと主張した。だが、わたしの名誉は存在を望んでいる。 聖なる活力に燃えるスゼスが衛兵のほうを向いた。
Did these “voidbringers” even exist in the first place? My [Szeth’s] punishers claimed they didn’t. But then, my [Szeth’s] honor doesn’t exist, either. Burning with holy vitality, Szeth turned towards the guards.