As a bit of a contrast to the last post about Yu Hua's Brothers and how it's reviewed, here's a translation of the eponymous headline review from Pulling Yu Hua's Teeth, a collection of hatchet-jobs on Brothers that was published in China in 2006. It's neither the worst nor the best example of Yu Hua-related criticism, but it was one of the more prominent.
Pulling Yu Hua's Teeth
by Cang Lang
Two recent events have shaken up China's literary world. The first occurred when a certain famous literary critic [白烨 Bai Ye] criticized 'Post-80s' writers, offending 'race-car driver' Han Han and his friends and drawing such heavy fire that he was forced to close his blog. The second was the publication of the second volume of Brothers by the renowned writer Yu Hua, and its prodigious sales around the country.
The spring weather may be chilly this year, but things are already lively in China's book circles – all those literary folks had hibernated long enough. The only real shame was that the two so-called 'events' were so lacking in literary value – particularly the former, in which the 'race-car driver' came off as particularly vulgar and shameless, and entirely lacking in cultivation. But it was hardly worth getting upset about; some of our famous critics really do have issues, and it was only a matter of time before Han Han was rude about it: the old man should have seen it coming. But when it came to Brothers, by the famous writer Yu Hua, the world of literary criticism responded with a coordinated attack that was gratifying to see. Even diehard apologists like Xie Youshun, Zhang Yiwu and Chen Xiaoming finally listened to their consciences and began to actually criticize. Assaulted from all sides, Yu Hua made a show of turning up his nose in contempt, but he's also a 'writer' of some refinement and he wasn't going to lose his cool. He showed far better quality than Han Han, which was a bit of an eye-opener.
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By Eric Abrahamsen, March 29, 12:24a.m.
The second annual Sino-English Literary Translation training course ended last Friday night, the conclusion of a week of workshops and seminars so tightly-packed that those of us present hardly had time to post. I hope other participants might chime in here with their thoughts, but I wanted to make a brief report.
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By Eric Abrahamsen, March 24, 11:19a.m.
As we've mentioned before, Paper Republic received an Arts Council, England, grant in 2008 to enable us to develop the website and promote Chinese literature in translation. As part of this work, we'll be visiting the UK next month for the London Book Fair, taking a Chinese author, Han Dong, and organising a variety of literary events in April. Anyone who can come is most welcome. We will be blogging the visit, so keep an eye on the website. Also, we’ll film or transcribe major discussions and upload them.
Here is our provisional timetable - please check the Paper Republic website before turning up at any of these events, in case there have been last-minute changes.
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Sunday 19 April 2009 – London: International PEN literary festival, Free the Word
Han Dong will read some of his work at the Literary Lunch.
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Monday-Wednesday 20-22 April 2009 – London: London Book Fair
Eric Abrahamsen and Nicky Harman will be at the London Book Fair, participating in seminars and meeting publishers with an interest in publishing translated Chinese literature.
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Thursday 23 April 2009 – London: East meets West: Authors Talking to Authors, featuring Han Dong, Xinran, Aamer Hussein, Kate Pullinger, and Richard Lea of the Guardian newspaper.
Venue: Oxfam shop, 91 Marylebone High St, London, W1U 4RB. Tel:
020 74873570. Please call in advance to book a place. 7pm.
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Friday 24 April 2009 – London: Book launch of Banished! Nicky Harman’s translation of Han Dong’s novel, at Probsthains Bookshop, 41 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3PE.
Tel: 020 7636 1096 Time: 6-8pm. RSVP to Nicky Harman n.harmanic@gmail.com OR Michael Sheringham (msheringham@hotmail.com).
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Tuesday 28 April, Edinburgh, Scotland: New Words, New Roads: Chinese literature in the world - a lecture by the poet and novelist Han Dong, followed by a panel discussion with translators of contemporary Chinese work. Presented by The Scottish Centre for Chinese Studies and LLC Graduate School: Translation Studies. Venue: Lecture Theatre, Hugh Robson Building. Time: 5.15 - 6.30pm.
By Nicky Harman, March 23, 8:31p.m.
The discussion following my post on footnotes descended, as discussions involving translations often do, into guesses at the world of publishing, and why English-language publishing might be so averse to translations. I called them cowardly (though I can think, especially in the smaller presses, of many brave exceptions); a commentator said they were overworked.
Whatever the reason translations are kept out of the American book market, I was impressed by how translations are marketed in other countries. A novel written by a college friend of mine, Red Weather, recently came out in German, and the publishers have produced a trailer for its release.
I don't understand German, but the trailer is pretty easy to follow.
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By Lucas Klein, March 20, 1:12p.m.
Shanghai-based blogger chinaSMACK has compiled a bilingual glossary of Chinese Internet/blogging/BBS terms. Useful for beginning/intermediate students of Chinese and Luddite old China hands alike, the glossary entries include the Chinese character(s) being discussed, tonal notation and well-written English explanations. Particulary fascinating are the entries explaining how Internet-based cultural memes morph over time (see the entries on 很傻，很天真 and 很黄,很暴力, for example). Thanks to Danwei for the link that led me to the chinaSMACK site.
By Cindy M. Carter, March 19, 6:52a.m.
In the comments following the recent and ongoing discussion on book reviewing, Paper-Republic contributors have raised the issue of footnotes. Cindy Carter first wrote,
I've often wondered if it might not be a good idea to return to endnotes in fiction translation. Readers who want to crack right through can do so and not get hung up on the fine print at the bottom of the page, but those who crave more cultural or historical background can flip to the back and read what could well be some fascinating tidbits.
Bruce Humes responded in the affirmative, but also asked,
But how are the footnotes presented? Where they are placed -- on the page itself, at the end of a chapter, or at the back of the book -- what sort of information do they contain, and how they are written are all very important.
Bruce's questions are certainly essential to deciding whether we want to allow footnotes into our translations. Likewise is his admonition against those who would "argue that it is the translator's job to remain 'invisible.'"
The issue seems to be centered around "academic" versus "popular" translations, or publications of translations, and how footnotes have been conceived as a hallmark of academic writing. But while that's certainly true, I wonder if a look at publishing history in Chinese can't help us figure something out about how to use the footnote when we translate.
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By Lucas Klein, March 16, 7:19p.m.
A few factoids from the latest CEATL Survey of Working Conditions (CEATL=Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires):
--- Only in one country, France, does a literary translator typically earn more than 80% of the average gross income
--- Only in three (Ireland, UK, Sweden) does a literary translator typically earn above 70% of the average gross income
--- Those figures, still high in the EU as a whole, drop to typical earnings of more than 60% of the average gross income in Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands.
--- To quote: "In Italy, the situation is disastrous. In Greece, Germany, Finland, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland, the material situation of translators is critical and professional literary translators are virtually on the bread line."
Get your own copy at Three Percent.
By Bruce Humes, March 11, 5:47a.m.
If I gave a damn about how the New York Times critiqued my work, I wouldn't want to be Carlos Rojas or Eileen Cheng-yin Chow right now. Or, for that matter, the editor of their translation of Yu Hua's Brothers.
Critic Jess Row certainly gives the English version of Yu Hua's <兄弟> (Brothers) a less-than-flattering review. And it may well deserve it. I wouldn't know, not having read either the original or the translation.
But what intrigued me about the review are questions like these that occurred as I read it:
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By Bruce Humes, March 7, 7:30p.m.
The following was provided by Stacey Duff, Art Editor of Time Out Magazine.
Celebrated Norwegian writer Olav H. Hauge has been translated into Chinese by Beijing-based poet, Xi Chuan. Xi Chuan translated the work in collaboration with Norwegian professor Harald Bockman and Norway-based Chinese translator, Liu Baisha.
Photo courtesy of Gøril F. Borgen/The Norwegian Embassy in Beijing
Hauge spent his entire life working as a fruit farmer. Reading these poems, you immediately sense a closeness to the land. Frequent appearances are made, for instance, by the sea, the moon and the wind. Hauge's earthiness is furthered by the fact that he spoke and wrote in the dialect of Western Norway, where he lived.
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By Eric Abrahamsen, March 5, 10:50p.m.
I've read Murakami in English, French and Chinese, but have always been struck by how unconvincing his "voice" is in Mandarin. His translator in the PRC, Lin Shao-Hua (林少华), has made a career (and no doubt a small fortune) translating one after another of Murakami's best sellers for millions of Chinese readers. No one else has been able to buy the rights. But at long last Lin's stranglehold has been broken by Li Chang-Sheng (李长声), whose translation of 《当我谈跑步时我谈些什么》has just been published.
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By Bruce Humes, March 4, 7:08p.m.
New Comments
on Quotes: Highlighting "local color" or "Chinglish"?
Avoiding a literal translation and opting for something along the lines of "Wuhan is not acting like a good partner" would preserve the meaning and sound more natural.
posted by Tommy Saxondale
Going to second Brendan in this one -- Eric is definitely the winner.
posted by Lina
Because 不够朋友 is intentionally ungrammatical, "ain't" seems a valid choice. There's no way I'm ever going to top Eric's street-poetry translation, but I was originally thinking along the lines of "Wuhan ain't no friend of ...
posted by Cindy Carter
on Open letter by Liao Yiwu (in Chinese and English)
Thanks for reposting this. ;) Wish that I could get our site to stop displaying the revision ID, as if I make any changes to the translation, they wouldn't show if others were to click this link.
posted by Lina
Just to mention that a collection of his poems "Poetry in jail" has been translated in French by Sun Shanshan and Anne-Marie Jeanjean and published by Editions l'Harmattan in february 2008; included is the famous "Great Massacre".
posted by Bertrand Mialaret
on Man Asia Literary Prize: 2008 Long List
I went to the Murong book talk tonight in Beijing and enjoyed him speaking.
I can see you now know his name but his translator and publisher was there on stage to facilitate the bi-lingual conversation. He formed the publishing ...
posted by Helen