Sinologist wins prize for work on literature

Andre Levy (雷威安), a French sinologist, was the winner of this year's ROC-France Cultural Award and will receive a prize of 250,000 francs (US$33,000), the prestigious Institute de France announced on Monday.

The award, established in 1996 by the Cabinet-level Council of Cultural Affairs, is bestowed every year to encourage academic research or activities that promote exchanges between European and Chinese cultures.

Pierre Messmer, president of the Institute de France, and Tsai Cheng-wen (蔡政文), a National Taiwan University professor, co-chaired the judging panel this year. Other panel members included Institute de France member Marianne Bastid-Bruguiere and Taiwan professors Chen San-ching (陳三井) and Hsu Tsang-houei (許常惠).

Levy was born in the French settlement in Tianjin, China, and moved to France in 1937.

An excellent student, he won a national doctoral degree in literature for his dissertation on Chinese popular novels.

His research on Chinese society of that era has aroused great interest in Chinese popular novels in Europe, America and Japan.

Levy entered the National Institute of Languages and Oriental Civilization at the end of World War II, where he studied Chinese, Indian languages, and Sanskrit, as well as American literature and religious history. In 1958, he traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam to further his research.

During his stay in Hanoi, he found that ethnic Chinese there were greatly interested in Chinese classical novels, which led him into a lifetime of research on Chinese popular novels.

In 1960, He went to Kyoto, Japan, where he made full use of that city's rich collection of Chinese books. He also went to Hong Kong for further research.

Levy, elated to learn he had won the award, noted that he has translated at least 20 Chinese works.

He added that he is most satisfied with his version of Journey to the West (西遊記), one of the most popular Chinese novels which tells of the adventures of a Buddhist monk and his three disciples on their way to India, and Chin Ping Mei (金瓶梅), a Ming Dynasty novel commonly regarded as a classic of Chinese erotica.

Both works have been listed as classic translations by the prestigious Paris publisher Pleiade.

Levy's translations of other Chinese classics include Strange Stories From the Leisure Studio (聊齋誌異), a collection of bizarre ghost stories by Pu Sungling (蒲松齡) of the Qing Dynasty, and Peony Pavilion (牡丹亭) by Tang Hsientsu (湯顯祖) from the Ming Dynasty.

His translations of contemporary Taiwanese writer Pai Hsien-yung's (白先勇) works, Crystal Boys (孽子) and Taipei People (台北人) have in turn been translated into Spanish and Portuguese and published in Spain, Mexico and Brazil.

Institute de France officials said that the award ceremony will be held shortly, although the date has not yet been decided.

Tchen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀), chairperson of the Council of Cultural Affairs, is scheduled to travel to Paris in order to preside over the ceremony.