The texts that are examined in this study move in and out of different languages or are multilingual in their origins. Texts and authors do not move randomly; rather, they follow routes shaped by the history of contact between different nations of the transpacific.
A round-up of reviews of works in translation from Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Pali, Bengali, Tamil, Farsi, Armenian and Arabic: classics, contemporary fiction, short stories and poetry.
Not only does a good chunk of Russia, most of it in fact, lie in Asia, but Russian-language writers (not all of them Russian) have works set in whole or in part in Asia. 2020 saw new translations of modern classics by Sergei Tretyakov and Alexander Grin, as well as translations of new novels set…
A round-up of reviews of works in translation from Japanese, including fiction and non-fiction, novels, story collections and children’s books.
A round-up of reviews of works in translation from Chinese, including fiction, story collections, poetry and biographies.
The lineage novel flourished in Korea from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century. These vast works unfold genealogically, tracing the lives of several generations. New storylines, often written by different authors, follow the lives of the descendants of the original protagonists, offering encyclopedic accounts of domestic life cycles and relationships. Elite women transcribed…
A round-up of reviews of fiction in translation from Korean, including two graphic novels, short stories and a rare novel from North Korea.
In the first half of the 18th century, rival dynasties of Naqshbandi Sufi shaykhs vied for influence in the Tarim Basin, part of present-day Xinjiang. In the 1750s, the collapse of the Junghar Mongol state gave one branch of this family an opportunity to assert their independence in the oasis cities of Kashgar and Yarkand….
How did Asia fare in the “Best Books” lists of 2020? We like to keep score, but there are also many excellent recommendations and hidden gems in these many lists.
Green Mountain compiles a representative selection of lyrical poems by contemporary Chinese poet and painter Yang Jian, also a Buddhist, in Fiona Sze-Lorrain’s elegant translation.
This year’s subjective list of books we thought worthy of particular mention over the past 12 months: fiction (in translation and not), poetry, short stories, graphic novels, history, biography, literature, culture, politics, society and children’s books covering Asia from the Pacific to the Mediterranean, from Siberia to India and Turkey.
As children, Shirley Ann Higuchi and her brothers knew Heart Mountain only as the place their parents met, imagining it as a great Stardust Ballroom in rural Wyoming. As they grew older, they would come to recognize the name as a source of great sadness and shame for their older family members, part of the…
Karma is Chinese contemporary poet Yin Lichuan’s collection of poems (bilingual edition) in Fiona Sze-Lorrain’s translation, accompanied by Sze-Lorrain’s introduction.
The Heart Sutra, beloved by millions in East Asia for over 1,400 years, is used as solace, protection, and a gateway to another mode of thinking. Schodt realized that it could also be his entry into a world of faith.
To commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri, Chameleon Press will publish a new collection of poetry in which contemporary poets from Asia interpret themes Dante’s opus with a particular focus on Beatrice, the object of Dante’s youthful love, his muse and guide.