COMMEMORATING

THE LOUIS ADAMIC CENTENARY

　A Stamp of commemorating the Louis Adamic centenary

　

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From Prof.Tine Kurent

October 15,1999

　

MESSAGE TO THE SHOZO TAHARA GROUP COMMEMORATING THE LOUIS ADAMIC CENTENARY

　　　Dear Shozo, thank you for the information that you are preparing a party in honor of your translations-with the Commemoration of the Centenary of Birth of Louis Adamic at the beginning of November.

　　　Louis Adamic was born one century ago in Slovenia. As a young boy, he emigrated to the USA. He started as a worker and rose to be an internationally known Slovenian immigrant writer who had popularized the concept of America as a Nation of Nations, which led the way to the official Congressional definition of America as a pluralistic society, in 1972.Before that, the America elite, known as WASP, that is White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, regarded immigrants from other countries of Europe and Asia as second class citizens. The theory of America as a "Melting Pot" was intended to "Americanize" only the white newcomers but not the colored, native Indians, Afro-Americans, Mexicans, immigrants from Asia, China, Phillippines and Japan. Adamic knew the oppression, germanization and italianization in his native country and opposed with his writing the social injustice, ethnic tensions and racial discrimination in the USA.

　　　The Harvard Encyclopedia of America Ethnic Groups stars its Introduction with the statement that

　　　"During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Louis Adamic, a popular writer and journalist, conceived of a project that he believed 'would excite all America about herself.' A' great Encyclopedia of the Population of the United States, from the Indians down to the latest immigrant group, 'would demonstrate 'in as great detail as possible, of what sort of human stuff America is made.' Such work, he wrote, 'might very well revolutionize American writing and affect all thinking about the United States. 'It' would be invaluable to thousands of...school principals and teachers...and librarians and social workers. In would appeal not only to New Americans and their immigrant parents...but to America as a whole'(My America,1938).

　　　"Adamic himself had emigrated from Slovenia (then a province of Austro-Hungary, later part of Yugoslavia, now the sovereign state Republic of Slovenia) at the age of fourteen, and throughout his life displayed intense interest in the origins of the American people. But, unfortunately, he could not raise the funds he needed from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and had to give up the idea of the encyclopedia.

　　　"Forty years later, this project was well under way when the editors saw a copy of the Adamic proposal. We were intrigued by what Adamic had wanted to undertake. He had envisaged a work of five to twenty-five volumes, a huge budget, and a staff of hundreds. The enterprise of which this volume is a product was modest in comparison. However, it processed on the basis of the article of faith with which he concluded:' But eventually, I think, this job will have to be done-somehow.'

　　　Dear Shozo, you are continuing the work envisaged by Adamic. You have been the first in Japan to understand the work envisaged by Adamic. With your translations, notably his The Native's Return, From Many Lands, A Young American with a Japanese Face-to name but a few-you are introducing Adamic, his ideas and his native Slovenia to the Japanese readers.

　　　Good luck!

　

　

　

* Dear Tine Thank you!　

　

On November 20 1999,the party in honor of the publication of my translations --with the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Birth of Louis Adamic was hold at the Amami Kankoo Hotel in Naze City of Kagoshima prefecture in Japan.

　　

　　　

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