“ You cannot say, ‘I’m patriotic but I don’t respect the fact that it is the Chinese Communist Party which leads the country'. ” (Erick Tsang, Hong Kong Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs)
African Writing in Chinese Translation: 2020 Round-up and a Peek at 2021
As Xi Jinping’s maritime Silk Road initiative reaches its tentacles further West into Africa, it’s not just accumulating alarming rates of China-driven debt and sucking up the continent’s mineral exports. Publishers in the People’s Paradise are now showing modest interest in importing what the authorities label “cultural products.” In this case, contemporary African writing. According to … Continue reading African Writing in Chinese Translation: 2020 Round-up and a Peek at 2021
“Multi-ethnic” Literature: Yilin’s 2020 Cache of Fiction by non-Han Writers
As your year-end holiday lockdown fast approaches, it’s worth noting a new series of books by non-Han writers launched this year by one of China’s best-known publishers, Yilin Press — lit., “translation forest” — that is normally associated with marketing popular foreign-language fiction in Mandarin for Chinese readers. The name of the series itself, Library … Continue reading “Multi-ethnic” Literature: Yilin’s 2020 Cache of Fiction by non-Han Writers
Guide to Related Links: Chi Zijian’s “Last Quarter of the Moon” (额尔古纳河右岸)
Chi Zijian's Last Quarter of the Moon 《额尔古纳河右岸》(迟子建著) A Multilingual List of Translations, Book Reviews, Academic Papers & Related Info 《额尔古纳河右岸》: Translations of the Novel Dutch (Het laatste kwartier van de maan, translated direct from my English version); English (Last Quarter of the Moon); French (Le dernier quartier de lune); Italian (Ultimo quarto di Luna); … Continue reading Guide to Related Links: Chi Zijian’s “Last Quarter of the Moon” (额尔古纳河右岸)
Xinjiang-based Novel: Excerpt from Patigül’s “Bloodline”
An excerpt from Bloodline , a novel by Uyghur author Patigül set in Xinjiang (《百年血脉》帕蒂古丽 著) Translated from the Chinese by Natascha Bruce Edited by Bruce Humes Growing Up In Da’nanpo (大南坡上的日子) We lived southeast of Da’nanpo, deep in the desert and on top of a steep slope, which meant all routes away from the … Continue reading Xinjiang-based Novel: Excerpt from Patigül’s “Bloodline”
Altaic Storytelling Quote of the Week: Musa Anter
“If my mother tongue is shaking the foundations of your state, it probably means that you built your state on my land.” (Musa Anter, Kurdish writer, assassinated in 1992)
Book Review of “The War on the Uyghurs”: How a People Became “Terrified”
An excerpt from Darren Byler’s review of Sean Roberts’ The War on the Uyghurs: Prior to the US declaration of the Global War on Terror, Uyghurs were described occasionally as “counterrevolutionaries” or as “separatists”, but never as terrorists. Working in concert with Chinese state security in a Beijing-based investigation, in the early 2000s US intelligence officials took up … Continue reading Book Review of “The War on the Uyghurs”: How a People Became “Terrified”
Quote of the Week: Querying the Maori Canon
Canons have real-world effects. When I first talked about teaching Māori literature in an English department in New Zealand, a number of people questioned whether there would be enough writing to justify a whole course, let alone a whole job. This assumption is not accidental – it grows out of a colonial view that Indigenous … Continue reading Quote of the Week: Querying the Maori Canon
“Sidik Golden MobOff”: Li Bai was Uyghur
An Excerpt from Sidik Golden MobOff by Alat Asem 斯迪克金子关机 阿拉提·阿斯木 著 First published in Peregrine, Issue 14, June 2013 Translated by Bruce Humes In our community, the only person who excelled at translating Uyghur into Chinese was Big Brother Sidik, and this was the inexhaustible source of his arrogance and aloofness. His colleagues and fellow students … Continue reading “Sidik Golden MobOff”: Li Bai was Uyghur
AfroLit for China: Bilingual Guide to Links about African Writing in Chinese Translation
African Lit in Chinese Translation: Still Stuck on “Things Fall Apart”? African Writing in Chinese Translation: 2020 Round-up and a Peek at 2021 Chimamanda Adichie is leading the rise of an African literature wave in China Chinese Academics Ask: 非洲文学离我们有多远？ Chinese Translations of African Writing Rise 63 Percent since 2018 Can Literary Imports Change Chinese Perceptions … Continue reading AfroLit for China: Bilingual Guide to Links about African Writing in Chinese Translation
Synopsis: Moŋgoliya by Guo Xuebo
《蒙古里亚》郭雪波著 Original novel in Chinese by Guo Xuebo Synopsis by Bruce Humes A tale of ruthless ecological exploitation, a 20th-century European explorer’s fascination with Altaic culture & epiphany in today’s Inner Mongolia This semi-autobiographical novel comprises three parallel narratives that eventually intersect in 21st-century Inner Mongolia: A spiritual journey, in which the author — ostensibly … Continue reading Synopsis: Moŋgoliya by Guo Xuebo
One of the People
遭遇深圳 By Bruce Humes “You’ll have to excuse us, Bruce. We’ve always looked after you as a guest,” said longtime friend Liu Jie, pausing delicately. “But yesterday we treated you like one of our own.” Indeed. My reception the previous night at the emergency room of this People’s Hospital in Shenzhen, just north of Hong … Continue reading One of the People
Chinese Academics Ask: 非洲文学离我们有多远？
In a recently published essay at The Paper (澎湃新闻) two Chinese academics — one studying in Germany and another in South Africa — ask how a Chinese should go about getting acquainted with contemporary African literature. One suggestion, in case you can’t read indigenous languages such as Swahili, Hausa, Amharic or Shona, or colonial languages such … Continue reading Chinese Academics Ask: 非洲文学离我们有多远？
