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Book fair makes room for literary masters
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THE giants of world letters are coming in for outsized attention at Shanghai’s premier publishing event. This year features events centered on titans from Shakespeare and Cervantes to Yang Jiang and Mao Dun.
Every year, the Shanghai Book Fair honors literary masters, but never have there been so many events commemorating writers, poets, playwrights and critics as this year. Publishers and institutions are paying tribute to titans like Shakespeare and Cervantes, as well as contemporary Hungarian writer Peter Esterhazy, and celebrated Chinese authors Lu Xun, Mao Dun and Yang Jiang, to name just a few.
Events at this year’s fair include serial lectures, exhibitions and tours, among many more.
Last Tuesday evening, the fair’s International Literary Week started with the forum “The Immortal Giant — The Legacy of Shakespeare.” The event was attended by dozens of writers, poets and Shakespeare experts from around the globe.
The 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death has inspired hundreds of events, seminars and performances since the beginning of the year. New translations of his works have been published, and new Chinese adaptations of his plays will be staged.
In China, Shakespeare is often discussed in relation with ancient playwright Tang Xianzu (1550-1616), author of classic plays like “The Peony Pavillion,” one of the country’s most famous operas.
Tang lived and wrote around the same time as the Bard, and also died in 1616. A stage play linking the two playwrights will be performed in Shanghai later this year. The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, will also issue special coins commemorating him on August 30.
An anthology of Tang’s works was also republished in December with new notes from scholars, in addition to various new academic books discussing and exploring the artistic styles, aesthetics and historical contexts of his plays.
Cervantes (1547-1616), another towering figure in world letters who also passed away four centuries ago, was among the earliest Western writers to attract the attention of modern authors in China. Cervantes was first mentioned by Chinese writers in 1918, and first partially published in Chinese as early as in 1922, in a volume translated from Thomas Shelton’s English edition.
A few Chinese translations of different sections of “Don Quixote” were published since then. The first complete translation came in 1978 from famed playwright, essayist and translator Yang Jiang.
Yang became famous as a playwright in the 1940s and wrote several successful comedies, rarities at a time when tragedies were common. As a translator, she introduced many European works to Chinese readers including “The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes and His Fortunes and Adversities” and “Gil Blas,” among others.
She was reportedly still reading and writing on a regular basis even after her 100th birthday. She partially supervised the publication of an anthology of her writings when she was 103. Yang passed away last year at 105.
In her final years, Yang enjoyed a resurgence in popularity among young Chinese readers, many of whom were drawn to her unique humor and satire even when discussing some of life’s hardest moments. Her book “Six Chapters from My Life ‘Downunder’” recorded her harsh “re-education” during the “cultural revolution” (1966-76).
Many readers were similarly fascinated by Yang’s knowledge of both Chinese and foreign literature, her turbulent and exciting life story, as well as her intellectual and long-lasting romance with her husband Qian Zhongshu, another of China’s most celebrated contemporary writers.
Her biographer, Luo Yinsheng, considers Yang “a thick history book in herself.” Luo recently amended the 2004 biography of the legendary centenarian, edited and proofed by herself, with new contents about the last 10 years of her life. The new edition was published and launched at this year’s book fair. An anthology of her works, first published in 2014, was also republished earlier in the year.
Another Chinese intellectual spotlighted at the book fair is novelist Mao Dun (original name Shen Dehong), commemorated for the 120th anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of his arrival in Shanghai from his hometown in nearby Zhejiang Province.
Mao’s significance to contemporary Chinese literature is hard to overstate. In fact, China’ top fiction prize, handed out every four years, is named after him.
Shanghai, with its complex environment and well-developed publishing industry, attracted many aspiring writers at the beginning of the 20th century. The city was where Western culture was most closely observed by Chinese, and where Western literary works and theories were first introduced to Chinese, and the distinct cultures clashed, diverged and came together.
Mao arrived at the young age of 20 and spent the next 20-plus years, the peak of his career, in the city where he wrote most of his best works.
He drew from his experience living in Shanghai, where the transition from the old and the new China was underway. He wrote many novels that realistically reflected the social life at the time. He was also famous for discovering and supporting younger talents, making recommendations and helping them connect with publishers.
Many events related to Mao are to be held in the later half of the year, headed by a free exhibition at the Memorial Site of the 4th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at 1468 Sichuan Road N., which will last for three months.
(Amanda Zhao contributed to this article.)
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