Should we create museums of literature?

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National museum of Taiwanese literatureA museum of literature is an institution specialized in literature considered as cultural heritage. The idea is to promote knowledge about literature and its role in society. There are many museums around the world concerning writers, particularly in the United States and France but very few museums of literature. I had been interested a few years ago by that of Beijing, I just discovered the museum of Taiwan in Tainan, the ancient capital of the … Lire la suite

Noyelles, the forgotten cemetery of Chinese workers of the Great War.

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Noyelles 3We will commemorate on next July 1st the hundredth anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Hopefully the Brexit will not overshadow these celebrations. This battle in a few months took away the lives of   a million people, 420,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers, 30,000 dead on the first day of the battle … The magnitude of the losses forced to use foreign labor including Chinese …

 

– An agreement with China to offset these … Lire la suite

Chinese literature, to promote it on the web…

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WenchangWe will shy away from the seasonal reporting exercises, which, for Chinese literature, do not have much sense. We will just try to ask ourself a few questions after following the excellent MOOC “Writing for the web”, organized by Rue89. However, to promote Chinese literature, the web is necessary but not always sufficient.

Read and write on the web:

A MOOC during four weeks, led by a team including Estelle Dumont, Valerie Vergez and Mathieu … Lire la suite

Reading Chinese novels in the West.

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The Macau Ricci Institute asked me a few months ago to prepare an article on contemporary Chinese literature and the West. This text has been published in English and Chinese in the April issue of the journal “Chinese Cross Currents.” This magazine has posted the article which was written after a dozen interviews with editors and translators in England, France and the United States.

We will give a quick summary and hope for exchange of … Lire la suite

Who translates and publishes Chinese literature in French?

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The site http://paper-republic.org/ plays an important role: it publicizes Chinese literature abroad and encourages publishers to develop their catalog. The site was founded by a group of well known English speaking translators, some of them living in China.

1 / “Paper-Republic” and Chinese literature in French:

 

The site, managed in recent months by Helen Wang, has been very active with the book fair in London where China was the guest of honor. Helen Wang … 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

Shanghai off the beaten track.

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If you visit the Expo, do not rely on travel agencies if you want to discover lesser-known aspects of Shanghai that the few “must see”. During the Olympics in Beijing, I had suggested in Rue89, “literary walks” that received positive reactions. Unable to go to Shanghai this year, I still found some interesting information.

1 – The residence of pre-war celebrities:

The China Daily “(2010-07/02), offers eight ideas of visits of the beaten track, including … Lire la suite

The Hong Kong Book Fair, five times bigger than Paris.

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The “Salon du Livre” in Paris is thirty years old, the Hong Kong Book Fair celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2009. Paris recorded 190,000 visitors and 920,000 in Hong Kong for a city of seven million inhabitants.

In Hong Kong, the Book Fair, the largest in Asia, is a popular event, a landmark event which attracts some 90,000 tourists (1). Visitors come mainly for buying books, novels and literature for more than 80% ( of … Lire la suite

“Lost Generation” by Michel Bonnin.

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Twenty million young Chinese were sent to the countryside to be re-educated during the Cultural Revolution. This episode, not often mentioned in France, is of major importance for the understanding of history and Chinese literature. ‘Lost Generation’,  sending educated youth to rural China (1968-1980) was published in 2004 by Editions de l’Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and is the reference book on the subject.

Michel Bonnin started the first interviews in Hong … Lire la suite

Paperbacks for a summer: a selection of ten novels.

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Originally published on Rue89 07/13/2010

 

As published last year, here again is a choice of ten chinese novels for your summer, recently published (in France ) as paperbacks and easy to find.The choice of novels of more than 300 pages has been limited to two books, as some readers shy away.

Only writers and books which came under review last year have been selected.

  • Available also in English:

–         Diane Wei Liang: The eye of … Lire la suite

The Chinese book, 2000 years old, which should have been read before the elections.

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Originally published on Rue89, 23/3/2010.


The  recent election debates in France and the results bring us back to a book written more than 2000 years ago, the translation of which has been released by Editions “Les Belles Lettres. “The Dispute over salt and iron” is a Chinese text astonishingly modern on governance that many politicians should read !

Judge by yourself with a few quotes:

“Now you pretend that you take from the rich to

… Lire la suite

Two prestigious literary awards for Chinese authors.

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Originally published on Rue89 18/11/2009.

The Neustadt Prize, the most prestigious literary prize after the Nobel, has been awarded for the first time to a Chinese writer, poet Duo Duo. We introduced Su Tong six months ago, he won the Man Asia Literary Prize for his novel “A Boat to Redemption”.

The American “Nobel”:The Neustadt Prize, named after the family who has generously financed it, is managed by the University of Oklahoma (which also … Lire la suite