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

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.