“Notes of a crocodile” (1) is a short novel, published in Taiwan in 1994, translated two years ago by Bonnie Huie for the prestigious New York Review Books collection, which had already published Qiu Miaojin’s best-known book “Last Words from Montmartre” (2). It took more than twenty years for “Notes…”, which is a famous book…
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Wang Ting-Kuo is a famous novelist in Taiwan; his book, “My enemy’s cherry tree“ (1) won numerous award in 2015 and was quickly translated into English after the success, the previous year, of a collection of short stories, one of which, “La Chute” is available in French (2). These texts focus on two male characters…
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Anwar Ridhwan is one of Malaysia’s best-known novelists and has benefited from numerous translations of his works written in Malay. He is a pure product of the system that governs literature in Malaysia both in his academic career and in his professional life as a civil servant. He is one of the thirteen writers declared…
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A book by Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio has just been published, subtitled “Aventure poétique et échanges littéraires”, it is about “Quinze causeries en Chine” (1), fifteen lectures, selected by his translator and friend Xu Jun; occasional texts but also essays of a very high quality. Xu Jun translated “Desert” in 1983 and then nine…
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An exceptional environment, she was born in 1946 in Shanghai, in a well-known family of bankers. After 1949, the family spent a few years in Hong Kong and then returned to Shanghai. She studied in English and Chinese and finished high school in 1964, too old to be sent “to the countryside”. A year in…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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