Yap: Global Irony Alert
There’s a stunning opinion piece in today’s editions of The Wall Street Journal by our gYou must Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this content.
There’s a stunning opinion piece in today’s editions of The Wall Street Journal by our gYou must Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this content.
14 comments
This is like reading “The Ugly American” by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer all over again. Giving out “stuff” is not “development” and Americans should not be surprised that it does not make the world’s poor like us.
This is like reading “The Ugly American” by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer all over again. Giving out “stuff” is not “development” and Americans should not be surprised that it does not make the world’s poor like us.
The WSJ published a page-one article yesterday about the Chinese newfound appetite for James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake,” part of which has just been translated into Mandarin.
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“Finnegans Wake” Is Greek to Many; Now Imagine It in Chinese
Translation of Joyce Novel in Works for Years Sells Well to Readers Craving a Challenge
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Ms. Dai spent eight years translating into Chinese the 1939 James Joyce novel that the author’s own brother described as “unspeakably wearisome.” She endured low pay, a skeptical husband and the continued demands of her teaching job. That is on top of deciphering sentences like this:
“Rot a peck of pa’s malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight and rory end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface.”
Her reward, to her great surprise, was success. Her translation of the first part of the book has become a modest but clear hit here in China. Chinese readers are now puzzling their way through Joyce’s rhythmic stew of English, Gaelic, Romance languages, puns and layered
meaning.
“It’s beyond my expectations,” Ms. Dai said. Local media even interviewed her 8-year-old son, she said, “though he has no idea what the book is about.”
A newly affluent nation that prizes black Audi sedans and Louis Vuitton handbags has made a literary status symbol of what may well be English literature’s most difficult work. Thanks in part to a canny marketing campaign involving eye-catching billboards and packaging, “Finnegans Wake” sold out the first, 8,000-volume run shortly after it was released in December. The book briefly rose to No. 2 on a bestseller list run by a Shanghai book industry group, just behind a biography of the late Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s modern-day boom.
The WSJ published a page-one article yesterday about the Chinese newfound appetite for James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake,” part of which has just been translated into Mandarin.
###
“Finnegans Wake” Is Greek to Many; Now Imagine It in Chinese
Translation of Joyce Novel in Works for Years Sells Well to Readers Craving a Challenge
###
Ms. Dai spent eight years translating into Chinese the 1939 James Joyce novel that the author’s own brother described as “unspeakably wearisome.” She endured low pay, a skeptical husband and the continued demands of her teaching job. That is on top of deciphering sentences like this:
“Rot a peck of pa’s malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight and rory end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface.”
Her reward, to her great surprise, was success. Her translation of the first part of the book has become a modest but clear hit here in China. Chinese readers are now puzzling their way through Joyce’s rhythmic stew of English, Gaelic, Romance languages, puns and layered
meaning.
“It’s beyond my expectations,” Ms. Dai said. Local media even interviewed her 8-year-old son, she said, “though he has no idea what the book is about.”
A newly affluent nation that prizes black Audi sedans and Louis Vuitton handbags has made a literary status symbol of what may well be English literature’s most difficult work. Thanks in part to a canny marketing campaign involving eye-catching billboards and packaging, “Finnegans Wake” sold out the first, 8,000-volume run shortly after it was released in December. The book briefly rose to No. 2 on a bestseller list run by a Shanghai book industry group, just behind a biography of the late Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s modern-day boom.
Don’t forget that China is also “developing” (one needs at least a peck of salt to accompany that verb) several of the African nations by building and equiping railroads that just happen to run from the center of the natural resource to a China-improved port.
To paraphrase the Big Bad Wolf: “The Better to steal your oil, minerals, and other natural resources” for the Chinese economy.
Payback Happens.
Don’t forget that China is also “developing” (one needs at least a peck of salt to accompany that verb) several of the African nations by building and equiping railroads that just happen to run from the center of the natural resource to a China-improved port.
To paraphrase the Big Bad Wolf: “The Better to steal your oil, minerals, and other natural resources” for the Chinese economy.
Payback Happens.
Yes, I suppose it is “fascinating” to destroy a unique way of life to make way for a Chinese casino. A more balanced take from the WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324712504578131864269855132.html
Yes, I suppose it is “fascinating” to destroy a unique way of life to make way for a Chinese casino. A more balanced take from the WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324712504578131864269855132.html
kudos FITS. Decent opinion piece.
kudos FITS. Decent opinion piece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DorE2lZqQzc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DorE2lZqQzc
‘American socialism’ ? Are you a motherfucking idiot or what? It’s fun to read this shit,just to up my own self-esteem;kinda like,people-watching at ,Wal-Mart…You need to wake the fuck up,bitch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRPRicsHh8g
‘American socialism’ ? Are you a motherfucking idiot or what? It’s fun to read this shit,just to up my own self-esteem;kinda like,people-watching at ,Wal-Mart…You need to wake the fuck up,bitch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRPRicsHh8g