Jia Pingwa ( 贾平凹 ) in translation

[Luxi]

I've attempted several times to read Jia Pingwa ( 贾平凹 ）in Chinese without success, even though I like his writings very much, what little I can understand of them, that is. His use of localisms and slang, and even more his meandering narrations really get me lost. 

Good reason to welcome Ugly Stone, a web site dedicated to Jia Pingwa in translation : 

http://www.ugly-stone.com/

It's great that some of his novels are now being translated. I'm looking forward to Nicky Harman's translation of 'Happy' (《刘高兴》), which I'm planning to read alongside the original. 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/aug/08/jiapingwa

 

[Zeppa]

Thanks for this. I started reading Ruined City in translation, but I need to start again. It was a good read but a bit overwhelming.

[Geiko]

I strongly recommend you try reading 高兴: I read it in 2015, right after 余华，when I was starting to read novels for native speakers. This one wasn't too difficult and I really enjoyed it. Checking it with CTA, it has 10000 unique words and 3083 unique characters, and I understand 96% of the words. The next book I plan to read from Jia Pingwa will be 怀念狼 (93,74% known words), and one of his most difficult stories is 鸡窝洼的人家，with 5330 unique words of which I only understand 91,32% . 

[Luxi]

I started reading 高兴. It doesn't seem a too challenging read, at least Chapter 1 is quite straightforward, there were several words I didn't know but they weren't much trouble with a popup dictionary. Then I read Nicky Harman's translation of that chapter (in the sample from The Guardian) which I think is spot on, I enjoyed reading the translation as much as the original. 

Of his other novels, I started 《秦腔》 (Shaangxi Opera) but gave up because it was taking me too long, gave me headaches, it was the actual style more than the words, same with Ruined City. I left both for later. 

But the one I really want to read is 老生 (Master of Songs) the beginning is wonderfully lyrical, I wanted to go on but I soon lost track of the plot, not enough concentration, must try again when I can devote it full attention. 

 

 

[abcdefg]

I just bought the Kindle edition of "Happy" translated by Nicky Harmon. (They title it "Happy Dreams" for some reason.) Will start it when I finish the books that I'm now reading.

 

One of these days I will have to actually try to read a book in the original Chinese, but for some flimsy and obscure reason I'm putting that off as long as possible. (Possibly fear of not being able to actually do it.)

[Luxi]

@abcdefg, the Kindle edition of Nicky Harman's translation won't be available here until October 1,

 

12 hours ago, abcdefg said:

One of these days I will have to actually try to read a book in the original Chinese

 

A 500 pages novel in Chinese is very daunting, and 500pp is barely 'medium length' by Chinese standards. You could try starting with short stories or essays, it helps getting to know the authors and different styles of writing, and you get a feeling of accomplishment after finishing each one.

'Reportage' type of essays were very popular in China when I started reading for pleasure, they were quite easy to read and had interesting insights about Chinese society as well as useful everyday words and expressions. I enjoyed them and they made the transition to reading actual novels quite easy for me.

[abcdefg]

Good advice; thanks!

[Luxi]

Here's an article by Nicky Harman, the translator of Jia Pingwa's 高兴, which is just out in the UK under the title "Happy Dreams" (and kept me up reading until very late last night)

http://bookanista.com/never-happier/

 

The article taught me more than an 8-lessons course on Translation that I took last year. Reading  the Chinese alongside this English translation is proving enlightening (and fun too), and there's no way I would have been able to read it properly without the translation on the side, even though stylistically it's not as hard as most other  novels by him. 

 

A funny side note, swear words have been expurgated in the Chinese text I downloaded, I have to refer to the English translation to fill in the gaps in the Chinese text  

[Luxi]

The article "Happy and Me" from the China Channel of LARB (Los Angeles Review of Books), is based on the closing chapter of Jia Pingwa's novel 高兴 ("Happy Dreams"). It was nice to know that Liu Gaoxing was based on a real person.   

 

I enjoyed reading "Happy" so much that after a start reading the Chinese and English versions simultaneously, I went on to reading just the English to get on with the story. Now and then I go back to read parts of the Chinese text, a lot easier having read the translation.  

 

Despite the use of local language, this novel is one of the easiest Jia Pingwa novels to follow: the plot is mostly linear, the cast of characters small and the writing is plain and straightforward.

 

Here are two audio-books. The one in Ximalaya is in quite thick Shaanxi. The boting reading uses local language for the dialogue but rather standard northern Chinese for the narrative and follows the text word by word:

 

http://www.ximalaya.com/37597910/album/12469334/

 

http://www.boting.co/book/5360-129121.htm