May 25, 2010

As if to prove that there are indeed good contemporary writers (see my earlier post on the Kubin controversy), there was an announcement on MCLC that Mo Yan was named honorary fellow of the Modern Language Association (MLA). ’Honorary fellows of the MLA are distinguished men and women of any nationality and represent some of the most important literary and cultural figures of our age,’ the post explains.

Although I am not particulary familiar with Mo Yan’s work, I know that his works in English translation are heavily edited. It is not just rewriting a couple of sentences or paragraphs, but in some cases entire chapters or the order of events need a complete overhaul. The translator, well-known sinologist Howard Goldblatt, once explained it is the editors who suggest these changes in order to suit the taste of the Western reader.

One would wonder how much is gained and how much is lost. But Mo Yan agrees to the changes, if it means getting published and launched on the American market. If it was not for these publications, he might not have gained fame and get elected as MLA Honorary Fellow.

To reinforce the message, the post concludes with ‘Mo Yan is by most people’s standards one of the most important and influential literary figures at work today in China, but not the only one. It is in the spirit that he is the first of many Chinese authors to come to receive this honor that he was first nominated.’ Interesting to see how this is subtly phrased ’by most people’s standards’, because we know we don’t all have the same criteria.

Written by: Audrey

May 18, 2010

Anyone interested in Chinese film should check out ‘The Bitter Tears of Ruan Lingyu’, a programme presented by the Hong Kong Film Archive to commemorate the 100th anniversary of actress Ruan Lingyu’s (1910-1935) birthday. It includes the screening of Ruan’s films and a seminar on her life. As the brochure indicates ‘Ruan Lingyu is an emblem of 1930s Shanghai and the Golden Age of Chinese cinema in the pre-war years. She was glorious, yet tragic; sensual, yet proper; humble, yet elegant. She was a big star who ended her life and career prematurely, which only made her live larger in our memories.’ The programme runs from 5 June to 4 July 2010; more information is available on the website of the Film Archive.

Written by: Audrey

May 10, 2010

A simple question on the MCLC list into the background of Wolfgang Kubin initially generated many links and details about the scholar, but soon turned into a heated debate on his views of modern Chinese literature.

The description on Wikipedia as referred to by one of the list members: ‘Wolfgang Kubin (born 1945) is a German sinologist and director of the University of Bonn’s Instituts fuer Orient- und Asienwissenschaften. In November 2006, he attracted a great deal of attention due to an interview he gave with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle regarding Chinese literature, most of which he denounced in harsh terms; he referred to Wei Hui’s Shanghai Baby as ‘garbage’ and Jiang Rong’s Wolf Totem as ‘fascist.’ Though he expressed his admiration for Lu Xun, he said that no contemporary author could compare to him.’

This controversial statement by Kubin back in 2006 was the cause for this heated debate, some praised him for his candidness, others disagreed and said there still are ‘quite a number of excellent works written by mainland writers.’ Another suspected Kubin of making statements ‘simply for their rhetorical value—to shock people in order to make them reconsider received ideas.’ Professor Kubin, however, expressed disagreement in response, saying he was not ‘a man of rhetoric.’ Instead he said he hated ‘all those cowardice people in Chinese studies who do not dare to speak. There are much better people than me in modern and contemporary Chinese literature, but they do not speak out. Why not? Contemporary Chinese literature is a real problem. People are wasting their time to translate it and comment upon it. Except for poetry.’

It seems to me it would be too harsh to say all modern Chinese literature is no good, though it depends on what your criteria are. Personally I belong to those who think there are still many excellent modern Chinese writers around today, and whose works are a joy to translate so I don’t find it a ‘waste of my time’. However, regardless of your ideas on Chinese literature, as the list moderator points out, ‘The fact that so many people have participated in this thread suggests Kubin’s importance as a scholar and the importance of the ideas he raises in his critique of contemporary Chinese fiction.’

Written by: Audrey

May 4, 2010

In the newspaper there was a column on the Shanghai World Expo. The writer was not sure whether he would go or not. Given the reports on the chaos, the pushing and shoving, and the waiting in long lines, the writer was rather reluctant to make the trip. Guoqing 國情 he called it, ‘the condition (or state) of a country’. He mentions the dense population, fast growth of economy but relatively slow development of cultural life, as the reasons for this guoqing. It is regrettable, for I am sure he is not the only one who is in doubt whether it is worth the effort. Moreover, nowadays we all have easy access to information about countries around the world, and it is easy to travel abroad. It seems that this world expo concept has lost its meaning, what do you think?

Written by: Audrey