Over at ALTAlk, the blog for the American Literary Translators Association, Matt Rowe has posted a Links Round-up of some of the news & articles focusing on translation that have been circulating recently. It’s a great compilation of Events, Readings, Reviews, and more, and includes my review of Zhai Yongming’s 翟永明 Changing Room, translated by Andrea Lingenfelter, Paper Republic‘s Eric Abrahamsen on the ups & downs of Chinese translation, a report from the London Book Fair by Publishing Perspectives on The “gatekeepers” of literary translation, and more. Take a look!
Tag Archives: Paper Republic
February Paper Republic Newsletter
From Paper Republic:
The latest edition of Paper Republic’s industry newsletter is done and making its way into subscribers’ inboxes right now. Included in this edition are notes on the Cambridge China library, an update on the Writer’s Alliance lawsuit, a toothy scad of new book descriptions and a very comprehensive overview of the state of online literature in the Pee Are See.
If you sign up in the next few hours here, you can still get in on the action.
China Daily on Path Light
The China Daily has an enthusiastic review by Chitralekha Basu of the recently published Path Light: New Chinese Writing, titled “One for the Ages.” The opening paragraph matches enthusiasm with detailed context:
This is a collector’s item. And not just because of its obvious historical importance. The first edition of Pathlight: New Chinese Writing magazine is a metaphor of the cooperation between Chinese and Western agencies – in this case, the influential People’s Literature magazine, edited by Li Jingze and the Paper Republic team, helmed by Eric Abrahamsen – to showcase Chinese literature to the rest of the world. What an absolute gem this slender 160-page volume is, in terms of the range of voices it covers, some of them translated for the first time. Kudos to the translators for bringing out the varied textures, emotions, cadences and even the visual appeal in some of the lines penned by the featured Chinese writers represent.
The review says less about the poetry: only,
The poetry section features six names, most of them born on the cusp of 1970. These, including the widely translated Xi Chuan, are seasoned, well-honed voices, who have been at their craft for a while, having evolved their own poetic idiom.
I loved the minimalist poems of Yu Xiang, especially the one about making friends with fellow women and then losing them along the way. It’s a very universal theme and quite unsentimentally put across.
I’m also a fan of Yu Xiang 宇向, and of Fiona Sze-Lorrain‘s translations. I have to admit, however, that I feel a bit queasy every time I see a reference to anyone–especially Xi Chuan–in the Chinese press that makes mention of being “widely translated.” Coming from a non-Chinese national such as Basu it’s probably no more than an objective–if relative–fact, or even praise of Xi Chuan’s border-crossing quality. But–and this may seem counter-intuitive to anyone not familiar with the political context of Chinese cultural standards–very often when certain Chinese figures talk about Chinese writers being “widely translated,” it comes with an insinuation that the writer is translated because his or her work is not “Chinese” enough (as if such a thing were quantifiable, or at odds with gaining an international following). Leaving aside the question of whether Xi Chuan is in fact “widely translated,” I’ve encountered situations where people have used this observation to denigrate his work–even when referring to what I think of as his most “Chinese” pieces!
Path Light on Podcast
Over at Popupchinese‘s Sinica series, host Jeremy Goldkorn is joined by Paper Republic‘s Eric Abrahamsen and Alice Liu, managing editor of Path Light: New Chinese Writing, as well as Jo Lusby, general manager of Penguin books in North Asia, for a special podcast on Path Light and the state of contemporary Chinese literature.
Despite the fact that Xi Chuan’s work (in my translation) is joined by that of five other poets–Lei Pingyang 雷平阳, Sun Lei 孙磊, Hou Ma 侯马, Yu Xiang 宇向, and Wong Leung Wo 王良和–the discussion says not a word about Chinese poetry. Still, it’s a worthwhile and informative podcast nonetheless.
Path Light Notifications Signup
Path Light, the new English-language journal produced by Paper Republic and People’s Literature 人民文学, is beginning to have a web presence. Sign up here for information & notification on news and new issues. And as an added bonus, here’s the table of contents of the first issue, including four Xi Chuan pieces in my translation:
Feature: 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize
Zhang Wei You Are on the Highland Liu Xinglong Holy Heaven’s Gate Liu Zhenyun A Word is Worth Ten Thousand Words Fiction / Non-Fiction
Jiang Yitan ‘China Story’ Di An ‘Williams’ Tomb’ Qi Ge ‘The Sugar Blower’ Xiang Zuotie ‘A Rare Steed for the Martial Emperor’ and ‘Raising Whales’ Li Juan ‘The Winter of 2009’ and ‘The Road to Weeping Spring’ Poetry
Lei Pingyang Prayer-Poem on Mt. Jinuo, White Herons, Keeping a Cat, Going Home for a Funeral, The Myna Bird Asks a Question, Collectivist Insect Calls, and Abandoned City Hou Ma Bloodsucking Rapture, Subway, Li Hong’s Kiss and A Wolf? In Sheep’s Clothing? Sun Lei Travel Yu Xiang Sunlight Shines Where It’s Needed, My House, They, A Gust of Wind, Low Key, It Goes Without Saying, Holy Front and Street Wong Leung Wo At Midnight, I See Your Shoes in the Bathroom, Father, This is the Last Day, The Story of Santa and I Thought We Wouldn’t Meet Again Xi Chuan The Body and History, Ill Fortune H 00325, Looking at the Mural in the Ruicheng Temple of Eternal Joy and Dragon Editor’s Pick
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Caging a Monster
Xi Chuan discussed the state of publishing in China and read his co-translations of Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge with Harald Bøckman during Chinese Literature Week at Norway’s Litteraturehuset–with “around 4,000 attendees at 30-some events,” according to Paper Republic‘s Eric Abrahamsen–but what seems to have been the most newsworthy event was the talk by Murong Xuecun 慕容雪村 titled “Caging a Monster” 把野兽关进笼子 (translated by Jane Weizhen Pan & Martin Merz). In light of Xi Chuan’s notion of his poetics as based on contemporary China’s oxymoronism, I cite the following quotation from Murong’s speech:
My country is capable of launching a satellite into space but not of building a safe bridge across a river. My country is capable of building palatial government offices yet condemns children to substandard schoolhouses. My country provides millions of luxury cars to government official yet few safe school buses for children.
这个国家可以把卫星送入太空，却造不好一座桥。这个国家可以把政府大楼造成金碧辉煌的宫殿，却让孩子们坐在摇摇欲倒的危房之中。这个国家有无数豪华的行政座驾，却没有一辆坚固的校车。
Chinese Week at Norway’s Litteraturhuset
As I mentioned yesterday, Xi Chuan flew from Hongkong to Norway, where he’s participating in Chinese Literature week at the House of Literature along with Wang Hui 汪晖, Murong Xuecun 慕容雪村, Ma Jian 马建, Leslie T. Chang, Rebecca Karl, Michael Dutton, Yiyun Li 李翊雲, Hong Ying 虹影, Mian Mian 棉棉, Xu Zechen 徐则臣, Han Song 韩松, Lan Lan 蓝蓝, Annie Baobei 安妮宝贝, Cheng Yong Xin 程永新, Zou Zou 走走, and Paper Republic‘s Eric Abrahamsen. Click here for the full schedule; the following is the list of events involving Xi Chuan (though I’m afraid one looks like it’s already in the past):
MONDAY THE 14TH OF NOVEMBER
7.30pm: Putting a Modern Face on the Classics
Discussion with Xi Chuan and Cheng Yongxin
Traces of this classic literature are also still to be found in today’s contemporary Chinese literature. What is the relationship between the classics and today’s writers, and do the latter use them in their own literature? Xi Chuan and Cheng Yongxin discuss their relationship to classic literature.
Language: Norwegian (with translation from Chinese)
THURSDAY 17TH OF NOVEMBER
8pm: Chinese Contemporary Poetry
Glimpse of the World’s Oldest Poetry Tradition
Stage conversations with Lan Lan and Xi Chuan
From early times, poetry played a far greater role in China than it did in the West. Even under the Zhou dynasty, more than a thousand years before the Western Christian Era, important political statements were often phrased as verses of famous poems. What does contemporary poetry look like in a country with such a long poetic tradition? Harald Bøckman talk with two poets about their works and the current trends in modern Chinese poetry.
Language: Norwegian (with translation from Chinese)
FRIDAY THE 18TH OF NOVEMBER
10am-2pm: From China to the World and Back: Seminar on translation
Introduction by Anna Gustafsson Chen, Eric Abrahamsen, Xi Chuan, Harald Bøckman, Lars Devold and others
Translating between Chinese and European languages can prove to be a difficult task when the written languages present such different linguistic structures. In Europe, Chinese literature is often translated from earlier English translations, a practice which can lead to mistakes and inaccuracies. What are the challenges one faces while translating and interpreting between Indo-European languages and Chinese? We meet up with translators who tell us about their work.
Language: English
SATURDAY THE 19TH OF NOVEMBER
8pm: An Evening of Celebration!
Readings by Yiyun Li, Lan Lan, Murong Xuecun, Cheng Yongxin, Li Er, Xu Zechen, Mian Mian, Han Song and Xi Chuan
Welcome to our evening of celebration with eleven Chinese writers, book readings and a concert. We close this Chinese literature week at the House of Literature with literary and cultural experiences. Concert with Chinese folk musician Xiaogang Zeng and Rolf-Erik Nystrøm. Host: Anna Bache-Wiig
Language: Norwegian (with translation from Chinese)