The surprise announcement last week that Chinese novelist Mo Yan had won this year's Nobel Prize in literature has focused unprecedented global attention on Chinese literature. 'Tao Te-Ching' and 'Art of War' notwithstanding, books from the world's most populous country have tended to get meager play in the Western press. Luckily, that hasn't kept publishers from commissioning translations of some of China's best-loved works。
当中国小说家莫言意外荣获2012年诺贝尔文学奖时,中国文学界也随之受到了前所未有的关注。虽然这个人口大国出了像《道德经》和《孙子兵法》这样的名著,但中国书籍在西方出版界的表现仍乏善可陈。幸运的是,西方出版商并未因此而放弃对一些最受喜爱的中国作品的翻译工作。
But with dozens of titles to choose from, where should the intrepid reader start?
但在众多的书籍中,尝鲜者该从哪本着手呢?
To answer that question, China Real Time turned to the editors of Pathlight, a literary magazine dedicated to translating new Chinese fiction and poetry jointly produced by the translation website Paper Republic and People's Literature Magazine. Below, Pathlight staff recommend four of their favorite Chinese books in translation, starting with one from the new Nobel winner:
为了回答这个问题,“中国实时报”栏目请教了《人民文学》(People's Literature Magazine)英文版杂志《路灯》(Pathlight)的编辑。《路灯》致力于翻译《人民文学》杂志与翻译网站Paper Republic联合出品的中国新小说与新诗歌。以下的五本中国书籍都由《路灯》工作人员力荐,第一本的作者是诺贝尔文学奖得主莫言。
《天堂蒜薹之歌》
(Garlic Ballads)
《天堂蒜薹之歌》
'Garlic Ballads,' Mo Yan
作者:莫言
Readers who want to get a taste of Mo Yan before they commit to reading a whole book may want to pick up 'Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh!, ' a collection of Mo's short stories, or check out Zhang Yimou's film version of the novel 'Red Sorghum.' For those who want to read a full-length novel, the Nobel committee's recommendation of ' The Garlic Ballads' as a first Mo Yan novel is a good place to start。
在埋头开始完整地阅读一部莫言的小说前,读者若想对其作品风格有所了解,他的短篇小说集《师傅越来越幽默》(Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh!)也许是一个不错的选择,或者去看看张艺谋根据莫言小说改编拍成的电影《红高粱》(Red Sorghum)。而对于那些热衷于长篇小说的读者而言,《天堂蒜薹之歌》是一个很好的选择。诺贝尔文学奖评委会就曾建议,阅读莫言应当从这部小说开始。
'The Garlic Ballads' opens with a quote attributed to Stalin -- though Mo admitted to making it up in the preface to the second edition of the novel -- that takes on new resonance in the light of recent criticisms of Mo for not being more outspoken in his support of imprisoned fellow Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo and other politically active writers:
《天堂蒜薹之歌》曾在卷首引用了一段斯大林语录──虽然莫言在第二版的前言中承认那段话是他自己杜撰的──但这仍引发了公众对他新一轮的批评。此前,莫言就曾因未替同是诺奖得主却身陷囹圄的刘晓波及其他异见作家大声疾呼、出言相助而受到指责。
Novelists are forever trying to distance themselves from politics, but the novel itself closes in on politics. Novelists are so concerned with 'man's fate' that they tend to lose sight of their own fate. Therein lies their tragedy。
一直以来,小说家都试图与政治保持距离,但小说本身却永远无法脱离政治而单独存在。小说家都极度关注人类的命运以至常常忽略了自己的命运,他们的悲剧也因此而生。
'The Garlic Ballads' has as its backdrop the story -- based on real events in 1987 -- of poor farmers who storm the county government offices in protest over extortionate taxes, tolls, and fees after their garlic crops, planted at the urging of the local government, rot, unsold, in the fields. The novel begins with the arrest and beating of Gao Yang, one of the leaders of the protest, in front of his blind daughter, then cuts to the doomed lovers Gao Ma and Fang Jinju as they attempt to resist Jinju's betrothal to an older man in an illegal arranged marriage。
《天堂蒜薹之歌》取材于1987年发生的真实事件:贫困的农民响应当地政府的号召大量种植蒜薹,结果蒜薹滞销、烂在地里。农民因此冲击了县政府办公室,抗议过高的税费、过路费及规费。这部小说一开始就描绘了抗议活动领导者之一的高羊被逮捕、被拷打的情景。而这一切,都发生在他瞎眼的女儿面前。接着,作者笔锋一转、切换场景,讲述了一对注定永诀的恋人──高马和方金菊──与非法包办婚姻抗争的故事(金菊在这桩婚约中被许配给一位比她年长许多的男人)。
Like many of Mo's longer novels, 'The Garlic Ballads' combines gritty realism with surreal imagery, depicts the venal cruelty of official power, and presents personal tragedy in the context of the long, slow-motion tragedy of history。
就像莫言其他的长篇小说一样,《天堂蒜薹之歌》将活生生的现实与超现实的意象融为一体,描绘了官僚权势的贪赃枉法之为与农民个体的悲凉窘迫之态,并将其置于长期渐变的历史悲剧大背景中。