Translated literature can help ethnic Chinese finds their roots, scholar says

Literary works translated from Chinese can help people, especially the descendants of ethnic Chinese immigrants, to understand the roots and culture of their ancestors, a noted scholar said yesterday.

Chi Pang-yuan (齊邦媛), a professor emeritus at National Taiwan University, made the comments when she attended a seminar on the translation, publication and marketing of literary works across the Taiwan Strait, which was sponsored in conjunction with the ongoing Taipei International Book Exhibition.

Chi, who has been devoted to the introduction and translation of Taiwanese literary works over the years, said that her own experience and observations lead her to conclude that Taiwan's culture has been gradually marginalized. "Our voices have died down, like a smouldering cinder," she said.

Chi said that with the support of the Chiang Ching-kuo foundation (蔣經國基金會), she has translated 10 books, but the market for the books is limited and only after years of effort has the Columbia University Press finally expressed willingness to print them. This, Chi said, is thanks to writer Wang Teh-wei (王德威), who serves as an adviser to the publishing house.

Chi noted that the translation of Chu Tien-wen's (朱天文) or The Journal of a Wandering Man (荒人手記) sold only 4,000 copies, while books by Cheng Ching-wen (鄭清文) sell around 3,000 copies.

She said that when she started translating, she was not thinking about her own interests, but simply hoping that Taiwan literature could gain a niche in the international community and that the children of immigrants could find something of their ancestors in reading them.

She noted that in the 1970s, the stock of Taiwan's literature had risen high and was regarded as representative of Chinese culture until the situation began to change in the mid-1990s, when movies made in China, such as Raise the Red Lantern (大紅燈籠高高掛), began to attract international attention, leading to a rise in popularity of many of China's literary works.

Comparatively, no such situation exists in Taiwan and the international market share of Taiwan's translated literary works has gradually been taken over by translations of China's works.

Chi is not optimistic about the prospects for Taiwan's literature, especially as excellence in Taiwanese creativity has become rarer and there is simply not enough enthusiasm for translating such works as exist.

Scholar and translator Howard Goldblatt said that even though he would like to translate more Taiwanese works of literature, no one is willing to publish them.