“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

Altaic Storytelling: What We’re Reading Now (2017.5)

A few years back I read a longish, semi-autobiographical novel by Guo Xuebo (郭雪波), who was raised in the Horchin Grasslands of Inner Mongolia (科尔沁草原) and is a native speaker of Mongolian. Entitled 《蒙古里亚》— an attempt to replicate the sound of “Mongolia” in Chinese, I assume — it comprises three distinct narratives that are intricately … Continue reading Altaic Storytelling: What We’re Reading Now (2017.5)

Alat Asem’s 《时间悄悄的嘴脸》: Guide to Related Links

 Alat Asem’s Confessions of a Jade Lord 《时间悄悄的嘴脸》阿拉提·阿斯木 著 Translated by Bruce Humes and Jun Liu Author's Background 阿拉提·阿斯木_百度百科 Literary Bio Présentation: Alat Asem (en français) Book Reviews Turkey's Sabah: A Gem of Uyghur Literature Academic Papers 翟晓甜 张治安:阿拉提·阿斯木的超越与创新——读《时间悄悄的嘴脸》  Renditions of the Novel Chinese original: 《时间悄悄的嘴脸》  Excerpt: Rechristening a High-rise (Chapter 19) The Translation Process  Co-translating … Continue reading Alat Asem’s 《时间悄悄的嘴脸》: Guide to Related Links

Quick Guide to China’s Contemporary Ethnic-themed Literature in Translation

Updated: May 3, 2018 (No plans to further update) Quick Guide to China’s Contemporary  Ethnic-themed Literature in Translation I’m often too busy to immediately write a well-researched post about contemporary “ethnic-themed” fiction that has been translated and published in a foreign tongue. This is a loose category (民族题材文学) that includes stories — regardless of the … Continue reading Quick Guide to China’s Contemporary Ethnic-themed Literature in Translation

July 2014: Update on Uyghur Writers and Writing as Crackdown Gains Momentum

In the wake of two high-profile and deadly attacks reportedly carried out by Uyghurs outside of their traditional homeland, the Chinese authorities have launched a multi-faceted campaign to crush what they see as a terrorist movement that aims at founding an independent state in the Xinjiang autonomous region covering one-sixth of Chinese territory. I am … Continue reading July 2014: Update on Uyghur Writers and Writing as Crackdown Gains Momentum

China’s Bilingual Writers: Narrative with a Difference

It began back in 2008 with Penguin investing heavily—$100,000 is the rumored price—to purchase Jiang Rong’s tale based in Inner Mongolia, Wolf Totem. In 2013 two newly translated novels joined China’s “borderland fiction” category: Fan Wen’s Une terre de lait et de miel, located in the gateway to Tibet straddling Yunnan and Sichuan, and Chi … Continue reading China’s Bilingual Writers: Narrative with a Difference

Excerpt: Uyghur Writer Alat Asem’s “Sidik Golden MobOff”

Here's an excerpt from my translation of Sidik Golden MobOff (《斯迪克金子关机》) by the bilingual Uyghur author, Alat Asem (阿拉提 · 阿斯木), that is published in full in Issue 14 of Chutzpah!: IN A WORLD of snow and ice, buses began to budge and Muslims began to discuss Sidik Golden MobOff in hushed tones. One comment reached … Continue reading Excerpt: Uyghur Writer Alat Asem’s “Sidik Golden MobOff”

Chutzpah!: Latest Issue Devoted to Writers of non-Han Descent

Good news from the bimonthly Chinese literary magazine Chutzpah! (天南): the latest edition (Issue 14) is devoted entirely to writing by authors of non-Han descent. Several languages are involved here—most are published in Chinese, but some were written in other tongues and then translated into Chinese, while one has been rendered in English. The latter … Continue reading Chutzpah!: Latest Issue Devoted to Writers of non-Han Descent