Happy World Book Day for All Those Supporting the World of Books!

On this World Book Day, let me shed a little light on the copyediting profession. Surely you have heard about “Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen” (by Mary Norris), which was the New York Times bestseller a couple years ago? Here, I would like to draw a comparison between the world of editors in the US and Japan. I recently picked up the book’s Japanese counterpart “文にあたる” written by Satoko Mura (牟田都子).
 
What do the two have in common?
Both authors claim that…
👉 Copyeditors should know their limits and refrain from over-correcting when it comes to intentional rule-breaking by the author. In short, artistic licence (künstlerische Freiheit in German) should be respected.
 
This view is reflected in Muta’s book in a chapter called “Do Not Overuse a Smoothing Plane“ (かんなをかけすぎてはいけない).
There, Muta writes, “ironing out a wild (seemingly bad) tone may steal something of the work’s zest“ and “ the author should be more stubborn in holding on to their own words.”
 
Just such a stubborn author can be found in Norris’s book, whose comment made me laugh out loud. The author turned down a copyeditor’s suggestion by allegedly saying, “I don’t think this guy <in the novel> should know more than I do.” Norris then concludes: “Respect the other meaning of spell: the spell the writer weaves.”
 
To be honest, the Comma Queen’s book was more of a fun read. Every line is well thought-out and witty. I loved Norris’ understated humour. You see, it’s not only Brits who can be droll – American can, too.
 
At one point, she writes, “we are a plainspoken, cheerfully vulgar people.” Yet, her pride in and love for American English can be felt throughout her book. Some of the subtle linguistic differences across the Atlantic explained there are eye-opening.
 
By contrast, Muta’s book is more subdued in its tone and expressions. I was rather surprised by the fact that copyeditors are supposed to do the job of fact checkers in Japan. Yet, they’re paid by the number of characters? That sounds like exploitation.
 
But there is one thing I find very encouraging and worth sharing on this platform. Her much celebrated career as a freelancer all started with “an interesting event in a book café which I came to know through a newly discovered SNS.” The spell of SNS also seems to apply to the world of printed books.
 
Although both titles are truly intriguing, I could only dip in and out of them because they hit so close to home. Their professional practice reminds me very much of the painstaking process of translation and subsequent reviewing. I hope that more people will also respect the spell translators weave.
 
Happy World Book Day for all those supporting the world of books behind the scenes!

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