This week, find out from our editors-at-large what has been happening around the literary world. Taiwanese literature appears in French translation, introducing a diverse swathe of writers across Taiwan’s linguistic backgrounds to French readers. India continues to reel from the impact of the pandemic, as the literary community remembers the writers they’ve lost, and many organizations stepping up to advocate for pandemic relief work. Read on to learn more.
Darren Huang, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Taiwan
In February, the French publishing company L’Asiatheque released Formosana: Stories of Democracy in Taiwan, a collection of nine short stories by contemporary Taiwanese writers. L’Asisatheque is focused on making available books in translation from Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South America, and Africa to French readers. In 2015, the company launched a “Taiwan Fiction” series, led by editor Gwennaël Gaffric, who is also a Chinese translator and professor in China Studies at the University of Lyon. The series seeks to amplify Taiwanese literature with themes of environmentalism, cultural identity, Taiwanese dialects, gender, postcolonialism, and the impacts of globalization. The series has published a number of modern classics of Taiwanese literature in French including A City of Sadness by Chu Tien-wen and Wu Nien-jen, The Membranes by past contributor Chi Ta-wei (recently reviewed in our blog), and multiple works by Wu Ming-yi, including The Man With the Compound Eyes and his novella, The Magician on the Catwalk.
In Formosana, the writers grapple with turbulent periods in Taiwanese history, including that of Japanese colonialism, the White Terror, martial law, and democratization. The stories also contend with social issues, such as nativist movements, LGBT rights, and environmentalism. In a recent interview, Gaffric discussed his choice of centering the collection on the theme of Taiwanese democracy. He believes that though there is increasing coverage of Taiwan in the French press, most French people do not understand its historical and cultural intricacies. He states: “We attempt to allow people to understand the fate of Taiwan from the past to the future, through various types of literary works which provide different channels and voices.” For his next book, Gaffric plans to publish the works of indigenous writer, Syaman Rapongan, to introduce indigenous writing to French readers.
On May 29, Taiwanese literature was also highlighted in France when Chi Ta-wei was invited to join the ninth annual “Nuit de la literature,” organized by the Forum of Foreign Cultural Institutes in Paris (FICEP). A reading of Chi’s “Pearls,” one of the stories from his eponymous science-fiction collection, was conducted in both English and Chinese at the virtual event with the author and Gaffric.
Suhasini Patni, Editor-at-Large, reporting from India
India was recently engulfed by the deadliest wave of COVID-19 as people scrambled to contain the ravages. Although the number of cases decrease day by day, the crisis left behind by this second wave is nowhere near curtailed.
One literary foundation in India is stepping up. The Shakti Bhatt Foundation, which awards one debut author from the Indian subcontinent a cash prize of 1 lakh rupees and a trophy, has put in efforts to recover from this humanitarian crisis. The Foundation states on their Facebook page: “India is a country in crisis. The worst-hit nation in an unprecedented global epidemic. Citizens right now have little access to oxygen, hospital beds, food or vaccines. The Shakti Bhatt Foundation is therefore switching from awarding a literary award this year to making a donation towards Covid relief work.”
The literary community continues to suffer many losses from COVID-19 (some of which were recorded in my last dispatch). On 11 June, we lost Siddalingaiah, founder of Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, and author of the pioneering autobiographical work Ooru Keri—translated into English as “A Word With You, World.” Siddalingaiah was a Dalit activist writing in the Kannada language, and winner of the Pampa Award, the highest literary award in the state of Karnataka. He was also one of the leading pioneers of the Dalit-Bandaya movement in Kannada; a literary movement that used poetry as a weapon against social and economic injustice. The slogan of the movement, coined by the Sahitya Akademi award-winning D.R Nagaraj, was “Let Poetry Be the Sword!” Siddalingaiah’s autobiography was translated and published into English by indie anti-caste publishing press, Navayana. Upon his death, they posted one of his poems on their Facebook page, an excerpt of which is shared below:
From the white clouds which crowd like political speeches
Streams are not swelled
And green is not nourished.
Who has stopped the timely rain?
Who has slashed the stars with rainbow?
Who is hiding the sun so that darkness may bloat and bulge?(Siddalingaiah, “Maatada Beku,” translated by Sumatheendra Nadig)
While the community suffers many losses, people recognize the need for more literary writing and activism, especially in Indian languages. A new call for submissions has been put out by the Hindi-English literary magazine “The Bilingual Window.” The magazine currently holds stories in original English and translations from Telugu and Rajasthani.
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This week on the Asymptote blog: