Chinese Literature in Translation
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A new novel appeals to China's soul-seeking readers.
Head of the publishing and bookshop group was apparently the victim of a premeditated attack
Han Han's much-ballyhooed magazine Party has been out for nearly a month, and readers are finding it tamer than ...
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It's been a good year for Chinese to English translation, and it's getting better. Eric Abrahamsen is to translate Wang Xiaofang's well-known novel on official corruption in China, working title Notes of a civil servant. The publisher is Penguin and the book is due out in 2011. Eric needs no introduction, since he is the founder and driving force behind Paper Republic. Great news, Eric!
By Nicky Harman, July 28, 4:13a.m.
Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (http://asiancha.com/) iis now accepting submissions for "The China Issue", an edition of the journal devoted exclusively to work from and about contemporary China. The issue, which will be published in June 2011, will feature poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, scholarly works and visual art exploring the modern Middle Kingdom. We are looking for submissions from a wide range of Chinese and international voices on the social, political and cultural forces which are shaping the country. If you have something interesting, opinionated or fresh to say about China today, we would like to hear from you. Please note that we can only accept submissions in English. More information here: http://asiancha.blogspot.com/2010/07/call-for-submissions-china-issue.html
By Eric Abrahamsen, July 17, 2:08p.m.
The University of Iowa's "Life of Discovery" program concluded recently: this was the second annual installation of a joint program between Iowa's International Writing Program and the China Writers Association, bringing American and Chinese writers together for a little road-trip bonding. Besides the official webpage above, you can peruse their blog, where the writers (Americans only?) posted photos and blogged their bewilderment. The event consisted of two parts: a week in Iowa last May, and a couple of weeks in China, mostly Kunming, which ended July 9.
This year's participants, on the Chinese side:
Interestingly, nearly all the Chinese participants were ethnic minorities, mostly poets. The Americans:
Great to see these kinds of events going on!
By Eric Abrahamsen, July 16, 4:23p.m.
I was really excited when I saw the title Girl in Translation (published by Penguin), but I didn't know it was going to be a book of literal translation.
The author of Girl in Translation is Jean Kwok. The description on *Girl in Translation is as follows: "When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the evenings."
But what becomes nagging after a while is then obvious － the author translates literally:
"The white disease" for leukemia," “small-hearted" for be careful and "release your heart" for don't worry. Asked about this in the Danwei interview, she said that the reason was this: “It took me ten years to write this novel and one of my goals was to develop a technique that would show English-speaking readers what it was like to be a native speaker of Chinese. I wanted to put the reader into the head and heart of a Chinese immigrant. English comes in garbled and incomprehensible, while the beauty of the Chinese language is easily understood.”
I wonder if when Chinese people say 小心, they really think of small hearts, or when they say 放心, they think of release. With no disrespect for the Kwok, these are just general questions that are interesting.
By Alice Liu, July 14, 1:19a.m.
New Comments
on Dunhuang Novel Set in Cultural Revolution Alarms China's Censors
In his foreword, Xiao Mo describes what sort of book he's written:
posted by jdmartinsen
on Romancing the Office Chair
The use of "X-chǎng" as a genre label has produced an interesting reanalysis of 商场: 商场小说 (shāngchǎng xiǎoshuō) refers not to books set in malls or bazaars, but to fiction involving the intrigues of high-level business executives.
posted by jdmartinsen
I'm with Lucas and his "administrative battlefield."
I can't see using a term including "political" as in "political arena." It's all about backstabbing and intrigue among party members and officials, not "politics" as we know it in ...
posted by Bruce
Oops -- "backstabbing and intrigue among party members and officials" does seem rather like politics in the West, doesn't it?
But given there are no elections or involvement with the "will of the people," "guanchang" still seems far from party ...
posted by Bruce
I vote for "officialdom".
posted by Jonathan
Wow, thanks for all the suggestions!
@Joel: Shangchang is definitely a better example than zhichang, that's really the right feeling.
@Jonathan: "Officialdom" is the term which has become accepted (how did that happen?) as the genre label, but I ...
posted by Eric Abrahamsen