A good novel has just been published, translated with talent by Brigitte Duzan, assisted by Zhang Xiaoqiu, “Funérailles Molles” (1), immerses us in China’s land reform. Fang Fang is a Chinese novelist known for her neo-realistic novels and her love for the city of Wuhan. Born in 1955, she grew up in Wuhan, finished high…
Details
The previous article dealt with Li Ang’s career and the short stories available in English and French. We will now comment on her three translated novels (1,2,3) which had a great impact. – “The Butcher’s Wife” (1) After a stay in the United States and a degree in theatre studies at the University of Oregon,…
Details
Li Ang is a Taiwanese writer known abroad, but the translations into French and English only give a very limited idea of her fifty years of literary activity. This is especially the case for her short stories, which will be examined in connection with her career by reserving the three translated novels (3,4,5) for a…
Details
A few days ago, we mentioned “The Historical Anthology of Modern Taiwanese Literature”, four volumes under the direction of Isabelle Rabut, professor at INALCO and Angel Pino, professor at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne. The last two volumes, “De fard et de sang” and “Félix s’inquiète pour le pays”, will be presented by the publishers…
Details
When we look at the collections of short stories and novels from Taiwanese literature, we are surprised to find that, after several publications in the 2000s, including two collections directed by Isabelle Rabut and Angel Pino (1), no new books until 2016. Three books are then published to which we will come back later: a…
Details
Xi Xi, the pseudonym of Zhang Yan, is probably the most famous writer in Hong Kong. Important and very varied works, with a limited number of translations in the West. She has just won the Newman Prize, awarded every two years by an international jury around the University of Oklahoma; only one condition, to write…
Details
A novel “Echoes of Silence” (A) and its sequel “Days of Change” (B), are a good overview of Malaysia’s post-war colonial years until the end of the century. Chuah Guat Eng, who wrote this novel at the age of fifty, after a professional life in marketing and communication, chose a Chinese narrator Lim Ai Lian…
Details
The results of the last elections in Taiwan were very surprising. When rereading some of the comments, it is clear that the fundamentals may have been forgotten in favour of personal preferences. The Taiwanese American writer Ed Lin, in a series of three detective novels, “A Taipei night market novel” (1), praises the charms of…
Details
Yan Lianke is one of the most important contemporary novelists, for sure a potential candidate for the Nobel prize. Nine of his books have been published in France by Les Editions Philippe Picquier. More English translations have been released with Carlos Rojas, a professor at Duke University, who has translated five of his novels. In…
Details
Qiu Xiaolong is a writer who has always made sure to renew himself. Although he is famous for Inspector Chen Cao’s police investigations, translated into some 20 languages and sold two million copies, poetry is an essential part of his work. Inspector Chen’s poems slipped into his novels, translations of classical Chinese poems, publication of…
Details
