The world has yet to see the best of Chinese literature

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/books/2013/03/the-world-has-yet-to-see-the-best-of-chinese-literature/

Imagine if every British novel published since the 1940s was about the Second World War. That’s about as accurate a view of contemporary China held by readers in the Anglophone West, say experts here.

Article by Samantha Kuok Leese, in The Spectator, 13 March 2013. Quotes Harvey Thomlinson, Julia Lovell, Kelly Falconer...

Comments

# 1.   

I think we have to stop letting our critics get off the hook easily as well. There's really no excuse anymore for literary critics to have no or little knowledge of Chinese literature at all.

Jeff, March 13, 2013, 5:06p.m.

# 2.   

I've always suspected that western publishers don't want what most Chinese readers are reading, and would rather go for a projected image of China (does that China even exist?).

Unrelated, but at a time the VIDA Count is causing controversy, Flavorwire praised Tin House for actually doing something about the problem, which was "basically stop.. asking men, because we knew they were going to submit anyway."

What I want to know is, if western publishers really are trying to remedy the problem of 'projected' Chinese literature, rather than just paying lip service and saying they want more Chinese literature, wouldn't it make more sense to actively publish more mainstream Chinese writers?

This is, of course, based on the assumption that western publishers want to remedy the problem.

Alice, March 14, 2013, 6a.m.

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