Xu Zechen in Words Without Borders April issue
By Nicky Harman, April 2, '12
Xu Zechen's Throwing out the baby translated by Nicky Harman appears in the Words Without Borders April 2012 issue. Enjoy!
Our News, Your News
Parody of famous poet is a PR stunt www.china.org.cn
The famous poet being... Du Fu.
Xu Zechen - Throwing Out the Baby (short story) wordswithoutborders.org
© Xu Zechen, 2005. By arrangement with Andrew Nurnberg Associates. Translation © 2012 by Nicky Harman. All rights reserved.
Read more: http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/throwing-out-the-baby#ixzz1qrU7dzgc
Shanghai Literature - who's in the March 2012 issue?
By Helen Wang, April 1, '12
The March 2012 issue of Shanghai Literature features the following authors:
Dangerous Women?
By Helen Wang, March 31, '12
The wonderful world of women warriors, grannies, geishas, femmes fatales, lionesses, shrews and mooncake vixens…
Finding a Place: Mainland Chinese Fiction in the 2000s journals.cambridge.org
Finding a Place: Mainland Chinese Fiction in the 2000s - by Julia Lovell
Abstract:
The political, economic and social changes experienced by China over the past decade have been mirrored by transformations in the literary realm. Writers, editors, critics and readers have contended with the acceleration of commercialisation, the rise of the Internet, and the Communist Party's subtly changing attitude to creative freedom. This essay examines the creative responses of three critically acclaimed generations of novelists – born between the 1950s and 1980s – to this new climate. It considers the way in which writers have become entrepreneurs, managing their own personality cults over the Internet and through media spin. It discusses widespread corruption in literary reviewing; the weaknesses in editorial standards that affect the work of even the most mature voices writing today; and the fluid way in which novelists often abandon fiction for other professions or expressive forms, such as film. Finally, it considers the limits of literary freedom in China's one-party cultural system.
Maxine Hong Kingston, Timothy Mo, Amy Tan
By Helen Wang, March 30, '12
At the China Inside Out event in London yesterday, someone asked what readers are looking for? Nicky suggested that they are often looking for something familiar, but a bit different/exotic, adding that readers sometimes seem to prefer the works of Chinese authors who have lived overseas. I wondered... what has become of the authors Maxine Hong Kingston, Timothy Mo and Amy Tan, whose books I enjoyed back in the 1980s? Where are they now?
The Current State of Chinese Fiction (Oxford, 18 April 2012) www.cbya.org.uk
Oxford Event: The Current State of Chinese Fiction - A discussion at Blackwell Oxford at 7 p.m. on 18 April
In 2011, two Chinese authors made the shortlist of the high profile Man Booker International Prize. Is Chinese fiction flourishing as China realises its new economic ascendancy? Or are there barriers to creativity? And what is the definition of a ‘Chinese’ writer? Join two acclaimed China-based novelists, Bi Feiyu and Li Er, in a rare opportunity for conversation with Ma Jian and Geling Yan, two renowned Chinese writers living in Europe, and with Tash Aw, a Malaysian Taiwanese novelist who has been living in the UK since his teens.
Tickets cost £2 and can be obtained by telephoning or visiting the Customer Service Department, Second Floor, Blackwell Bookshop, Oxford. 01865 333623
What is the best Chinese novel?
By Helen Wang, March 30, '12
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120329202211AAh7nc6
Someone (not me) has just put this question on Yahoo. So far, there are 3 replies: Harry Potter in translation; Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, and Mao's 'Little Red Book'. You have 4 days to voice your opinion.
Giddens Ko makes a movie www.thewrap.com
China Daily USA talks about Eric usa.chinadaily.com.cn
Italian Sweep
By Eric Abrahamsen, March 29, '12
A bit of good publishing news: the Italian publishing house Sellerio recently announced the purchase of three excellent Chinese novels to publish in Italy:
- Concession (租界) by Xiao Bai (小白)
- Tui Na (推拿) by Bi Feiyu (毕飞宇)
- Running Through Zhongguancun (跑步穿过中关村) by Xu Zechen (徐则臣)
Excellent choices, and Paper Republic is pleased to have played a role, in a sort of back-room, smoke-wreathed, under-the-table kind of way.
Language log
By Helen Wang, March 29, '12
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/
http://www.facebook.com/languagelog
Language Log is a group blog on language and lingustics started in the summer of 2003 by Mark Liberman and Geoffrey Pullum. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/
The wonderful world getting lost and found (lust and fond?) in translation...
Han Dong - Brand New World (short story)
By Helen Wang, March 28, '12
Han Dong's short story Brand New World, translated by Helen Wang and Nicky Harman. 韩东《崭新世》
Chinese Literature - A Very Short Intro www.thechinabeat.org
Review of Sabina Knight's A Very Short Introduction to Chinese Literature, Oxford University Press, 2011.
Graphic Novel - The Art of War www.mediabistro.com
Writer Kelly Roman and illustrator Michael DeWeese adapted Sun Tzu‘s The Art of War into a graphic novel. To promote the comic book version of the famous military treatise, Roman and DeWeese had a doctor draw their blood in front of a live audience in New York City.
The blood was then used to stamp sample chapter-giveaways. Comics Alliance reports that clear tape was put on top of the blood for sanitary purposes. The curious can view this video about the event on YouTube.
According to an email sent by Roman, “the book integrates Sun Tzu’s iconic text into a story set 20 years in the future when China is the dominant economy and the financial industry is militarized.” HarperCollins’ Harper Perennial imprint will release the book on July 31st in trade paperback format. Follow this link to read the first three chapters.
The Cambridge Quarterly - focus on literature
By Helen Wang, March 28, '12
The Cambridge Quarterly has recently published a special issue entitled Cambridge English and China: a Conversation.
This issue focuses on literary criticism, literary discrimination, the teaching of literature and literature's place in a wider culture, and the degree to which these things have been shaped and influenced by relations between Cambridge and Chinese literary academics.
Shi Kang - Sunshine in Winter (short story)
By Helen Wang, March 28, '12
A short story by Shi Kang, translated by Helen Wang, Michelle Deeter, Killiana Liu and Juliet Vine.
Shi Kang has recently been the focus of an article and a video published on the The Wall Street Journal online as one of the wealthy Chinese who are thinking of relocating to the USA.