By Helen Wang, April 11, '12
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/11/old-man-xinjiang-xue-mo-story
This is the 2nd of the 5 short stories in The Guardian this week.
Editor's intro: Old Man Xinjiang by Xue Mo, translated by Nicky Harman. It's time for Old Man Xinjiang to head home, but not before he's been to see 'her'. Xue Mo reflects on the ebb and flow of life in the Chinese countryside in this story translated by Nicky Harman
Vertical Motion by Can Xue, tr. by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping, reviewed by Natasha Soobramanien, Quarterly Conversation, 5 December 2011.
This link was prompted by a reader's comment (pieshop, 11 April) on http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/apr/10/short-fiction-china-stories
By Helen Wang, April 11, '12
Chinese Literature - A Very Short Introduction, by Sabina Knight, Oxford University Press, 3 Feb 2012 - 137 pages
Publisher's intro: Perhaps nowhere else has literature been as conscious a collective endeavor as in China, and China's survival over three thousand years may owe more to its literary traditions than to its political history. This Very Short Introduction tells the story of Chinese literature from antiquity to the present, focusing on the key role literary culture played in supporting social and political concerns...
By Nicky Harman, April 10, '12
It begins here and - yes - the blurb says it: The London Book Fair welcomes the world's biggest publisher by volume this month, with China selected as the 2012 Market Focus. The Guardian's China stories series presents new English translations of short stories from the most exciting writers working in China today.
I was slightly amazed that the whole project was quite so long and involved. (It was indeed before Christmas when we started it.) There are always niggles, like we only managed one female writer - though she is a cracker - but all in all, it was a swift learning curve and a warm glow of satisfaction is stealing over me.
By Nicky Harman, April 10, '12
Chitralekha Basu has done an extended interview with Han Dong, Nicky Harman and Ra Page (Comma Press) for China Daily, pre-London Bookfair. Read it here.
PS Chitralekha has asked me to make her full, uncut piece (pace CN editors) available, so here it is
The January 2012 issue features the following:
-- Antonio Chen on Taiwanese Novelists in 2011, Translated from the Chinese by Darryl Sterk
-- Wolfgang Kubin on Ouyang Jianghe
-- An essay followed by a translation into the Chinese by Cheng Wen-chi
-- Auvini Kadresengan, from Song of Wild Lilies, tr. from the Chinese by Terence Russell
-- Chi Ta-wei, A Stranger's ID, tr. from the Chinese by Fran Martin
-- Chu T'ien-wen, from Witch's Brew, tr. from the Chinese by Sylvia Lin and Howard Goldblatt
-- Egoyan Zheng, Falling, tr. from the Chinese by Laura Jane Wey
-- Li Ang, from Lost Garden, tr. from the Chinese by Sylvia Lin
-- Wu He, from Disinterment, tr. from the Chinese by Terence Russell
By Helen Wang, April 9, '12
I've tried to put together a list of the prize-winners and prize-winning titles for the Bing Xin Children's Literature Prize ( 冰心儿童文学奖). I've put it up under Resources for Translators. If anyone can improve upon this list, please do so!
Ah Lai 阿来
One of China’s few famous Tibetan writers, Ah Lai started his literary career in the 1980’s as a poet. In the decade that followed he worked as an editor at the literary magazine Grasslands and later as Director of Science Fiction World, which became the largest-circulating science fiction magazine in the world. His first well-received work after switching to fiction was the novel Settling Dust (1998), which narrates the rise and fall of a Tibetan family in times of modernization. It was translated as Red Poppies and made into an award winning film.
By Helen Wang, April 8, '12
http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/
Globe to Globe
Richard III - National Theatre of China (28-29 April 2012) - in Mandarin
Titus Andronicus - Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio (3-4 May 2012) - in Cantonese
By Helen Wang, April 7, '12
http://hkupress.org/Common/Reader/Products/ShowProduct.jsp?Pid=1&Version=0&Cid=16&Charset=iso-8859-1&page=-1&key=9789888083527
Humour in Chinese Life and Letters – Classical and Traditional Approaches, ed. by Jocelyn Chey and Jessica Milner Davis, Hong Kong University Press, 2011.
Edited by Eric Abrahamsen.
Upcoming events: London Book Fair (16-18 April)
Industry News: GAPP Document May Mean Controls on Copyright Imports; Bookworm Talk—Future of Publishing; New Restrictions on Publishing "Official Corruption" Novels; Government Support for China's Privately-Owned Bookstores; "Two Meetings" political conference; China's Expansion into Africa Now Includes Publishing.
New Books: It Ain't Easy, Being a Cop; Little Beijing Beasts; The Chinese are Bummed; Storm-Tossed Memories
By Helen Wang, April 6, '12
http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/703463/The-art-of-translation.aspx [via MCLC - kirk (denton.2@osu.edu) - Subject: new doc on translators]
'The art of translation' by Lu Qianwen, Global Times, 5 April 2012:
'A new documentary series profiling China's 30 most influential translators premiered in Beijing in late March. The documentary series, A Life-long Pursuit, focuses on China's older generation of translation specialists and highlights their impact on the world and Chinese culture.
Blog by literary agent, Rebecca Carter, about the 18 April event in Oxford with Bi Feiyu, Ma Jian, Li Er, Yan Geling, Tash Aw...
Pathlight, no. 1, 2012, is now available.
Elements of writing in style, by Mei Jia, China Daily, 05 April 2012.
Fantasy history is a novel idea as authors delve into the past, by Xu Junqian, China Daily, 05 April 2012.
China Inside Out, The Free Word Centre, London, 29 March 2012
By Helen Wang, April 4, '12
http://zackerium.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/review-bridge-of-birds-novel-of-ancient.html
Almost every day there is news of a novel set in China, either a new publication or a re-discovery. Although such titles are not 'Chinese literature in translation', they do throw some light on that question of 'what do readers like?' Here's the latest (it was written in the 80s)...
Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox)
Author and NPC deputy calls for spirituality - by Liu Lu (China Daily, 20 March 2012)
MCLC LIST / From: kirk (denton.2@osu.edu) / Subject: Alai on artistic quality
Steven McGregor, The Spectator, 2 April 2012 - on China Inside Out
By Nicky Harman, April 2, '12
I was asked by the publishers to review these books for dimsum. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience: both reading the books and writing nice things about them and about the translators! Click here to read the review.
