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

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