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Anonymous
Joyce’s ‘Finnegans Wake’ Takes Off in China
2015-12-09 12:34:43 Post No. 7441670
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Joyce’s ‘Finnegans Wake’ Takes Off in China
Anonymous
2015-12-09 12:34:43
Post No. 7441670
[Report]
>The first, iconic sentence (“riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs”) takes up three lines in Chinese but requires 17 lines of footnotes. The challenge began with the very first word: “riverrun.”
>“I have to explain every word, as well as the cultural background and the alternative meanings,” she said.
>“For example ‘riverrun’ could be ‘the river ran,’ and ‘reverend,’ and the German word ‘Erinnerung,’ ” or memory. “Because this book is about the meaning of memory and time, and why. So even the first word in the book you have to explain.”
>“About 8 out of 10 of the words I have to write footnotes,” she said.
>But the book’s mind-boggling complexity — native English speakers struggle with it and many have wondered if it was Joyce’s joke — doesn’t explain its popularity in China, where the first print run of 8,000 copies sold out within two months. Some have pointed to the way Joyce exploded hierarchy and meaning by tearing up language itself in the text when it was first published in 1939. It took 73 years to reach China in Chinese, but its message has appeal here today.
>At the end of March, the private publisher, Ni Weiguo, who has previously published Plato in Chinese, issued another 5,000 copies.
>“They’ve all gone to bookshops,” said Mr. Ni in a telephone interview. “I didn’t publish this to make money. It’s exceeded my expectations.” Why did he publish it? “I published it to give people a great book.”
>Who is buying it? “Professors, people who love modern literature and writers, all kinds of well-known writers. Translators,” he said. Many love the way it lacks a coherent narrative and plot; that shocks readers here.
>“Chinese readers are used to story and plot,” Ms. Dai said. “They want to know why this book is so important, so they try to understand it. But it’s difficult and challenging.”
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/joyces-finnegans-wake-takes-off-in-china/
