Anne Cheng: Confucius reassessed, a Chinese export product.

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Since 2008, Anne Cheng, a former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, leads in the Collège de France her research and teaching activities on the intellectual history of China, after having carried them under the CNRS and the National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations (INALCO).

Her translation of ” The Analects” of Confucius and her “Histoire de la pensée chinoise” have become classics. She was kind enough to analyse current events … Lire la suite

Shi Zhecun, modernism and continuity in Shanghai.

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The publisher Bleu de Chine Gallimard has published several books of good quality on literature of the 1930s including an excellent collection of texts and drawings by Feng Zikai (1).

With the short stories by Shi Zhecun (2), published a few months ago, in a translation by Marie Laureillard and Gilles Cabrero, you can discover an author somewhat forgotten and whom we knew only with two short stories translated into the excellent book “The Shanghai … Lire la suite

Wuhe presents “The Survivors” of a drama during the colonial period.

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When a book is recommended by readers of Rue 89, the French translator, Emmanuelle Péchenart, Actes Sud publishers, Isabelle Rabut and Angel Pino, the American translator, Michael Berry and in addition related to a successful film “Seediq Bale “, you start to be anxious fearing to be disappointed. Wrong,” The Survivors “is a great book …

1 – Some milestones:

Aborigines of Taiwan, the first occupants of the island, represent less than 500,000, … Lire la suite

Is internet the future of literature?

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China is now the No. 1 worldwide for both the number of internet users and for mobile phones. Such an environment supported an extremely rapid development of literature on the internet. Creative writing, the role of publishers, the relationship between literature and other media, all that is doomed to change …

1 – China on the fast track:

 

China, with its 460 million Internet users has passed the United States; these users  are young, … Lire la suite

Anne Sastourné: from a text to a book…

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Anne Sastourné is a publisher with the “Éditions du Seuil”, responsible for the Far East; she was kind enough to answer our questions.

Can one speak of an editorial policy?

 

At the Seuil, what matters is a literary quality and a certain intellectual level, it’s an opening line.

This sector Far East was built by my predecessor, Vincent Bardet, and I took over there about ten years ago. I have three different responsabilities: I … Lire la suite

Mo Yan, the short story collection “The beauty riding a donkey…”

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These last months, Mo Yan has been on the top of the news: the French publication of “Frogs” (1) followed a few days later by the award to this novel of the Mao Dun Prize (shared with four other writers) but a prize of 50,000 euros each.

Recently was published a collection of short stories with the evocative title: “The beauty riding a donkey on Chang’an Avenue” (2) with a book cover supposed to catch … Lire la suite

Yang Jiang is 100 years old.

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Yang Jiang was born on July 17, 1911 in Beijing. No ceremonies for the birthday; for many years she has shied away from the media  but is alert and loved by her readers. Born a few months before the Revolution of 1911, she went through the whole modern history of China and this (great …) grandmother of literature is also admired for the modern couple she formed  for 63 years with one of the most … Lire la suite

Su Tong: international profile and new books.

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Su Tong is one of the writers shortlisted for the prestigious “Man Booker International” prize. A short book which has just been published “On a Bicycle” (1) is a good example of a talent that you may also enjoy in a few months when will be published in French a good novel (2) already translated into English and award-winning in Asia.

A dream, the “Booker International” prize :

 

The prize, endowed by the Man … Lire la suite

Ha Jin and Chinese migrants, a great writer, one of them…

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Not much is said at this moment about the Sino-American writer Ha Jin, in my view a major writer; his book ” War Trash ” is one of the most remarkable novels I’ve read in recent years. Good news, his latest novel, “A Free Life”, his first text on Chinese migrants in the United States, will be translated from English by Editions du Seuil In Paris, next september; we’ll come back on this.

“A … Lire la suite

Yiyun Li: Two superb collections of short stories

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The first collection of short stories by Yiyun Li has just been translated into French (1). We already mentioned it in August 2008 at the time of the release in France of Wayne Wang’s film “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” inspired by the short story, title of the collection. Amazed by the talent of a writer, totally unknown in France, I even contacted her for a telephone interview.

Having won many prizes in the … Lire la suite