Wolfgang Kubin Trashes Chinese Literature and Names Names Too
Now that China's Coming-Out-Party in Frankfurt is over, Wolfgang Kubin, Bonn University Professor of Chinese Studies--and an outspoken critic of modern Chinese literature--is back with a vengeance. Here are two excerpts (my translation from the French) from the lively and provocative interview online at Books, L'actualité par des livres:
"The [Chinese] novel, [in contrast with Chinese poetry] enjoys a high profile internationally, but is of rather mediocre quality. This opinion is largely shared among my colleagues. But what my Chinese counterparts say—in private—is even more extreme. In most of their eyes, the contemporary version of the [Chinese] novelist is an utter ignoramus: he has no literary culture, no mastery of his language, doesn’t know a word of English, and hasn’t the slightest knowledge of foreign literature. According to them, on the world stage Chinese novelists are tubaozi (土包子), or hillbillys, as one calls migrants in China who have left the countryside for the big cities."
By Bruce Humes, November 7, 6:48a.m.