If you Liked the Run-up to the Olympics...
China will be “Guest of Honour” at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2009 (Oct 14-18).
By Bruce Humes (徐穆实), April 21, 1:43a.m.
Bruce Humes (徐穆实)
email Bruce Humes (徐穆实)
Bruce translates contemporary Chinese fiction into English, including Wei Hui’s best-selling tale of an international love triangle, "Shanghai Baby." More recently, literary agents and authors have commissioned him to read popular Chinese novels, recommend chapters for excerpting, and then translate for marketing to publishers in the West. Excerpted authors include Chun Shu (school marm), Xiao Hongchi (adventures of an investment banker), Mu Zimei (sex blogger, reformed), Feng Tang (growing up in Beijing) and Gu Bo (spy/action thriller).
At the moment, Bruce is proofing and editing the translation of "Yang Bin: Kim Il Jong's Adopted Son," authored by a Hong Kong investigative reporter. The controversial Yang Bin, now imprisoned in China, was the short-lived head honcho of North Korea's Sinuiju Special Administrative Zone.
An inveterate student of foreign languages, over the years he has somehow wangled (occasionally free) home stays in Kyoto, Istanbul, St. Petersburg and Paris. His essays on the Chinese press are available at www.danwei.org ( just input “Humes” in the search box), and his own web site at www.bruce-humes.com launches in early 2009.
April 2008
all postsMind-food for the literary translator
A series of books widely available in China – in English – has opened my eyes to new ways of looking at literary translation.
Published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press (上海外语教育出版社), the cover of each of the 30+ tomes carries a 国外翻译研究丛书 etiquette on the cover. I bought some of these volumes at 王府井的外文书店, but I have seen the series in places as diverse as Xi’an, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Authors include scholars known for their role in what many call “translation studies.” They include Susan Bassnet, Andre Lefevere, Eugene Nida, Maria Tymoczko and Lawrence Venuti.
I personally recommend:
“Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame” by Andre Lefevere (翻译、改写以及对文学名声的制控)
“Translation Studies” by Susan Bassnet (翻译研究)
“The Translator’s Invisibility: The History of Translation” by Lawrence Venuti (译者的隐身)
“Translation and Gender: Translating in the Era of Feminism” by Luise von Flotow (翻译与性别：女性主义时代的翻译)
I have read several of the books and have been pleasantly surprised that some—certainly not all—of these authors are bloody good writers whose writing is highly critical, witty and spot on when it comes to identifying and analyzing thorny issues that I have confronted as a translator of Chinese fiction into English.
If you only read one, make sure you read “The Translator’s Invisibility”!
By Bruce Humes (徐穆实), April 16, 2:22p.m.