One more: Event on Jia Pingwa (贾平凹)

[Luxi]

Friday 9 April 14:00 – 15:00 BST
Jia Pingwa: Master Storyteller of rural China    
Sponsored by Sinoist Books, with Prof. Christopher Payne*  

* whose English translation of Jia's novel 老生 is about to appear under the title The Mountain Whisperer (Sinoist Books, 2021)  

 

More about Jia Pingwa  (贾平凹) with lists of his works:  
http://www.ugly-stone.com/   
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jia_Pingwa  
https://glli-us.org/2017/02/20/jia-pingwa-as-global-literature-by-nick-stember/  

 

 

[Tomsima]

Count me in again, these events are great, definitely one of the benefits coming out from covid is being able to go to these events without worrying about travel arrangements

[Luxi]

I'm glad Jia Pingwa gets the limelight here, though 90 minutes won't be enough to introduce half of his long novels. I hope this will inspire more recognition of his work and more good English translations.

18 hours ago, Tomsima said:

being able to go to these events without worrying about travel

 

it has been an amazing year for someone living out in the middle of nowhere: film festivals, Covent Garden performances, concerts, guided visits to the British Museum exhibitions, and even private virtual walks at Chester zoo. And these events are the icing on the cake.

[Lu]

That was interesting! Nice to 'see' you there Luxi, had it been a real-life event I'd invite you to have a drink afterwards and talk Chinese literature some more. On the other hand, had it been a real-life event probably neither of us would have been there.

 

I like how they set up these events, bit of information from every side, a good introduction of the author and this specific book. I had trouble understanding 贾老师 (fortunately I know he is famous for that...), unfortunately I didn't quite get what exactly he said about his view on traditional vs modern women. That was a good question (among several good questions).

[Luxi]

@Lu, nice meeting you! Sorry  I couldn't handle the chat thing too well, I'm not used to all this Zooming. 

It was a fantastic meeting, wasn't it? Yes, very well organised. 

 

I love Jia's accent but can't understand much.

 

 

[Luxi]

9 minutes ago, Lu said:

I didn't quite get what exactly he said about his view on traditional vs modern women.

They'll publish the meeting online. Also add subtitles to the answers. 

 

[Lu]

4 minutes ago, Luxi said:

They'll publish the meeting online. Also add subtitles to the answers.

Ah good, I'll look out for it.

[Luxi]

They showed a short clip from this video, this is the whole thing:

Jia Pingwa - The Authentic Voice of China's Northwest  (in case you want to hear more Sha'anxi ) 

 

ETA: The You Tube version above only has English subtitles. The original videos from CCTV 9 has Chinese subs, here's the link to the full 7 parts series, with 5 other authors:

https://tv.cctv.com/2020/07/20/VIDAj11XlOPxjYTy1AsXgsRr200720.shtml

(it may help to have the Chinese subs alongside Jia Pingwa's Shaanxi)

[amytheorangutan]

3 hours ago, Luxi said:

They'll publish the meeting online. Also add subtitles to the answers. 

Ah good. I registered but something came up suddenly so I missed it ?

[Tomsima]

I managed to make it too, although feeling left out, @Lu and @Luxi! (I wonder if the western woman who asked the question and spoke excellent Chinese was one of you?) Glad to hear I wasn't the only one feeling quite in the dark about what 贾老师 was saying in his answers, I could barely understand any of it! I found it great listening to Chris talking about the translation process, just wish a bit more time could have been given to the questions directed to him in the chat. 

[Luxi]

1 hour ago, Tomsima said:

although feeling left out

So sorry! @Lu spotted me first, I don't know how she did it, after that I didn't scroll the screen not to lose track of her. So glad you made it! I think it was one of the very best zoom meetings I've been to, it makes a difference when the author is also present, and he is one of my favourites - even if his accent is unintelligible. I could have done with more questions too. I liked the pre-recorded clip of Jia Pingwa with the subtitles very much - it gave a very good insight into his novels.  I was certainly not that woman who spoke excellent Chinese!

 

After finally watching it, I strongly recommend the You Tube video linked above, it is very well made, Jia Pingwa in his own words, his own world and his people. 

We should create a zoom pub to carry on the talk after these events  

[Tomsima]

6 minutes ago, Luxi said:

We should create a zoom pub to carry on the talk after these events  

I'd be very keen for this - I always feel like I come out of these talks with lots of inspiration and questions, but noone to talk about it with!

[Lu]

15 hours ago, Luxi said:

@Lu spotted me first, I don't know how she did it

You can click somewhere to get a list of participants. I scrolled down the list until I found a Lucy, guessing that that was your real name. Should have kept scrolling looking for a Tom! As to the western woman speaking excellent Chinese, I think you mean Anna Gustafsson Chen, the Swedish translator? I admire her a lot, but I'm not her.

 

15 hours ago, Luxi said:

We should create a zoom pub to carry on the talk after these events

Good idea! Next time there is an event, I'll make a Zoom meeting for who wants to talk afterwards.

[Luxi]

1 hour ago, Lu said:

I scrolled down the list

Doh! So simple, now that you mention it.

 

1 hour ago, Lu said:

Next time there is an event

Yeah! I'll keep an eye for anything coming up, the only thing coming up soonish is one from California on Fang Fang's Wuhan diary. I don't think we want or need an event to talk about Covid 19, do we? A pity, it is at a good time for us.

[Luxi]

The event's video has been posted at:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyIrgJCTQyY   

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Ri4y1w7tp/   
Disappointingly, there are English, but no Chinese subs in You Tube, and no subs at all in bilibili, at least one can replay and re-listen. Fortunately, the pre-recorded introductory Jia Pingwa clip has English and Chinese subs.