Un obtained the dual Bachelor degrees in Chinese Language and Art (film and television production) of Peking University and dual Master degrees in East Asia Studies and Asia Pacific Studies of University of Toronto with the research field in literature and movies. She won the Henry Luce Foundation Chinese Poetry & Translation Fellowships and had been the village residing poet in the Vermont Creative Studio. She was invited to attend many international poem festivals such as the one held in Portugal and worked as the lyricist of Macao’s first original indoor opera A Fragrant Dream. She published some collections of poems in Cross-Strait regions, and has been engaged in academy and publication for long time and writes columns for media organisations in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.
When talking about Norway, Murakami Haruki’s novel Norwegian Wood would come to most people’s mind.
Of course, Norway does have its literature besides the ones written by foreign authors. The most famous author from Norway would be Ibsen. After arriving in Norway’s capital city Oslo, I went straight to the Ibsen Museum.
Ibsen had a huge impact on Chinese literature. The leaders of the famous May Fourth Movement were fond of Ibsen’s theatre plays. La Jeunesse, a Chinese magazine that played an important role in the New Culture Movement, even had special issues for Ibsen. Hu Shi was a big fan of Ibsenism. China’s modern theatre play pioneer Tian Han even saw becoming China’s Ibsen as his life goal. Nora, the protagonist of Ibsen’s masterpiece A Doll’s House, has been a very memorable character in literature. You can see Chinese versions of Nora in Hu Shi’s Marriage, Ouyang Yuqian’s Pofu, Xiong Foxi’s Life of the Newlyed and Guo Moruo’s Zhuowenjun. In these works, you can see a series of independent women who resemble Nora. That’s why they are also called Nora plays.
Why Ibsen was considered by the May Fourth Movement as the representative of western theatre plays? Lu Xun believed Ibsen’s outspoken criticisms on society and the majority earned him such recognition. But how Ibsen became so popular? I believe that timely literature translation was the key.
The craze for translating Ibsen’s works originated from the grassroots. Today, the export of local contemporary literature is mostly dependent on governments, NGOs, or initiatives by universities that aim to increase international exposure.
Norway publishes around 10,000 books every year, which is around one-fourth of that of Taiwan. But the Norwegian government shows strong support for the publishing industry nonetheless. The royal members even took the same train with 19 Norwegian writers, such as Jostein Gaarder (famous works include Sophie’s World), to the book fair in Frankfurt. This shows the Norwegian government’s strong emphasis on exporting literature.
Norwegians are famous for their pragmatism. NORLA, the Norwegian Literature Abroad, established in 1978, provides strong support for the publishing industry. Besides exempting business tax, the local government in Norway will also purchase 750 copies of every new publication and circulate them in libraries. This allows Norwegians to have access to the latest books while supporting small publishers and writers’ livelihood. If the publishers have the intention to translate a soon-to-release book into German and English, NORLA will subsidy 50% of the translation fee so as to boost Norwegian books’ exposure on the international publishing market. NORLA has helped publish 6,000 Norwegian books to overseas market so far. These books have been translated into around 66 languages, which is surely impressive.
Mainland China has also begun trying to export its literary works through translating magazines. For example, there was the grass-rooted bilingual magazine Chutzpah!, which lasted for three years. There is also the semi-official Pathlight, which is the English version of People’s Literature. In greater China region, Taiwan has the most systematic and advanced literature translation system. The island had regarded translating literature works and exporting literature as an important means to build up soft power. That’s why Taiwan continues to provide support for initiatives that bring books from Taiwan to the world, such as setting up the Taiwan Literature Translation Centre, launching the Subsidy Scheme for Translating Taiwan’s Original Literature Works by National Museum of Taiwan Literature and Subsidy Support for Translating Original Literature in Taiwan by Taipei Book Fair Foundation, etc. In addition, there is also a Translator Village Programme that invites foreign translators that translate Taiwanese literature to Taiwan. A literature translation online database was set up as well, which allows users to track and add records of Taiwan’s literature translation.
Besides translation support, Taiwan also pays a lot of attention to publishing and marketing Taiwanese books. An International Marketing Programme for Taiwan Copyright selects ten original works in Taiwan with the potential to gain popularity internationally every six months and translate some of the chapters to test the waters. The translated content will go on the semiyearly magazine BOOKS FROM TAIWAN. The online platform “Books from Taiwan” is also set up as an information platform of copyrights for the international audience. The platform includes information on the writers, books, market response, literary awards, etc. In addition, Books from Taiwan also invites experts from both home and abroad to write exclusive pieces on the book market in Taiwan and around the world, in an attempt to drive the literature copyright sales of Taiwanese books.
Macao still can’t compare with mainland China and Taiwan in the number of translated local literature. In addition, the export of local literature has been slow progress while the translation quality varies. After Macao returned to People’s Republic of China’s administration, there had a limited number of local literary works that have both Chinese and Portuguese version such as Joe Tang’s The Ecstasy and Ling Ling’s Amores do Céu e da Terra, Contos de Macau, etc. But at the end of the day, the number is very limited. Literature translation and overseas marketing can only be successful when they are sustainable. If we want to help literature in Macao enter the world market, it is urgent for us to have a literature translation programme that is facilitated by the government, universities and grassroots power in Macao!
