Chinese lit does better in Spanish- and Arabic-speaking countries
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1054515.shtml
While Chinese literature has experienced an uphill battle getting published in the English-speaking world, the situation in Spanish- and Arabic-speaking countries has been completely different.
Comments
Typical Global Times reportage.
No solid facts about shipments/sales or number of titles available in Spanish or Arabic.
In the recent past I have tried to confirm that several short story collections and novels had been published in Arabic in Egypt -- thanks to subsidies from China -- but even the body responsible for channeling the subsidies couldn't provide the most basic details, except to say that several of the books had been translated and published by a university in Cairo.
It is well known that book sales in most of the Arabic-speaking countries are lethargic at best.
I assume Chinese lit in Spanish translation is faring better. But the impression I get from this article is that the "reception" of contemporary Chinese lit in Arabic translation is perceived as "better" because neither the reporter nor any of the interviewees is familiar with actual book sales or what local literary critics -- admittedly often not complimentary in the English-speaking world -- are saying.
Bruce Humes, July 5, 2017, 11:35p.m.