The New Kono Award-winning work “Long Years” is selling hot[Humanities Club: It has been urgently printed and firmly believes that the author will have a wide range of Chinese readers]
On October 6, French writer Anne Ernault won this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature. Xiao Liyuan, deputy editor-in-chief of the Humanities Agency, revealed on the evening of the 11th that once the news of the Nobel Prize was announced, “Long Time” was quickly sold out on multiple platforms, and the Humanities Agency had urgently reprinted it.
Ernault’s representative work “A Long Time” won the “Best Foreign Novel of the 21st Century” award jointly selected by the Humanities Society and the China Foreign Literature Society. It was first published in China in 2010. The award was established in 2001. So far, the latest works of 98 foreign writers have been introduced and introduced to China for translation and publication at the first time, including many famous works. In order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the award, in 2021, the Humanities Society will choose the best of the best, and decide to select seven excellent books from the award-winning books that have been published for renewal and reprint. Anne Ernault’s “Long Time” is one of them.
“A Long Time” tells about the world process and the changes of the times since the 1940s. The translator Wu Yuetian was the director of the French literary jury for the “Best Foreign Novel of the 21st Century” and the translator of “A Long Time”. Wu Yuetian introduced: “The difficulty of translating this book does not lie in the language itself. Erno’s language is very simple and clear, and the translation is not very difficult. The difficulty lies in a lot of details. The people and things mentioned in the book are carefully written by the author. The selection can make readers immediately recall that era. Many details will not be understood without personal experience, and they do not know what they are talking about.” For this reason, during the translation process, Wu Yuetian not only consulted a large number of materials, but also asked the French. As soon as I ask about the confusion, I finally present a translation that reproduces the original work as much as possible, so that readers can appreciate the style of the Nobel Prize works at the first time.
“Long Time” started from 1941 until around 2006. From the perspective of writer Li Er, the important works mentioned in the book, including literary works, movies, songs, etc., are also known to Chinese readers. He believes that Ernault’s writing is first of all obviously autobiographical, and secondly, it is closely related to the French literary tradition and even the entire artistic tradition, such as Impressionism and Cubism, as well as the French New Novel School, and it is very well integrated. Readable novel. In terms of creative techniques, “Long Time” has a strong artistic experimentation, and also has the nature of meta-fiction, and it is handled very plainly, showing in detail how some important historical events in the 20th century “dive into the night with the wind”. To make an impact, there is a deep part hidden in the plain things.
It is understood that once the news of the Nobel Prize was announced, “Long Time” was quickly sold out on multiple platforms, and the Humanities Society has urgently printed it.Xiao Liyuan, deputy editor-in-chief of the Humanities Society, said: “Not all Nobel Prize winners’ books sell well, but I firmly believe that Erno will have a broad Chinese readership market. Her books should be long-selling books with strong and lasting vitality. …” Text / Zhang Enjie, reporter of this newspaper
“Beijing Youth Daily” October 16, 2022 A11 edition
Editor: Liu Jiawen