Geraldine Millais Harcourt (25 May 1952 – 21 June 2019) was a New Zealand translator of modern Japanese literature.

Early life and education

Harcourt was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

on 25 May 1952. She graduated from the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

, and first went to Japan in 1973.

Career

Harcourt developed a close working relationship with Japanese fiction writer

Yūko Tsushima Satoko Tsushima (30 March 1947 – 18 February 2016), known by her pen name Yūko Tsushima (津島佑子 ''Tsushima Yūko''), was a Japanese fiction writer, essayist and critic. Tsushima won many of Japan's top literary prizes in her career, i ...

, and translated many of her works into English. These include: * Yūko Tsushima, '' Child of Fortune'' (1978) * Yūko Tsushima, '' Territory of Light'' (1979) * Yūko Tsushima, '' Woman Running in the Mountains'' (1980) * Yūko Tsushima, ''The Shooting Gallery & Other Stories'' (1973–1984) * Yūko Tsushima, ''Of Dogs and Walls'' (2018) Works by other Japanese authors translated into English by Harcourt include: * Shizuko Gō, ''

Requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

'' (1985) *

Hirotada Ototake (born April 6, 1976) is a Japanese writer from Tokyo, who has written in the memoir, fiction and sports journalism genres. Biography Ototake was born without arms and legs due to tetra-amelia syndrome, a genetic disorder. Ototake is most notable ...

, ''No One's Perfect'' (1998) * Yūko Tanaka, ''The Power of the Weave: The Hidden Meanings of Cloth'' (2013) * Takeshi Nakagawa, ''The Japanese House in Space, Memory, and Language'' (2006)

Awards

In 1990, Harcourt was awarded the Wheatland Translation Prize. She won the 2018–2019 Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize for her translation of ''Territory of Light'', published by Penguin in 2017.

Death

Harcourt died in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

on 21 June 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harcourt, Geraldine 1952 births 2019 deaths Japanese–English translators New Zealand expatriates in Japan University of Auckland alumni 20th-century New Zealand translators 21st-century New Zealand translators Writers from Auckland Geraldine