THE CULTURE OF CHINA AND FRANCE ARE STREAMING THROUGH THEIR LITERATURE

Text by Pan Translation by Yueamp;Yun Photos by Fu Lei Prize

THE CULTURE OF CHINA AND FRANCE ARE STREAMING THROUGH THEIR LITERATURE

Text by Pan Translation by Yueamp;Yun Photos by Fu Lei Prize

Through their efforts, the starlight of France is now shining upon the terrain of Chinese culture.

quot;I'd like a looser envelop next time. This one holds my nerve for a few more seconds.quot; On stage, our special guest Bi Feiyu didn't forget to tease the envelop as he drew out the award note from it. The ninth session of Fu Lei Prize revealed its winners at the end of November at Fang Suo in Guangzhou City.

New Town, The Departed

Founded in 2009, the Fu Lei Prize aims at promoting the translation and transmission of French literature in China. It has been presenting various works of the translators to the public and paying tribute to their efforts. This year, the awarding ceremony was held in Guangzhou City for the fi rst time.

China has so far become the largest copyright importing country of French literature. In a single year, 2016, copyrights of more than 2110 French works have been transferred to Chinese publishing company. This year, the committee of the Prize have received 59 candidate works in the fi elds of literature and social sciences. Thanks to the efforts of seven permanent judges from both China and France, 10 works were chosen for further competition based on multiple aspects from backgrounds to contexts. With the joint help of invited judges, three works fi nally won the awards.

WINNER OF

LITERATURE AWARD

Lin Yuan

Prize Winning Work:

Retour ? Killybegs by Sorj

Chalandon,

The People's Literature

Publishing House / Shanghai Jiujiu Reader

文學(xué)類獲獎?wù)?

林苑，譯作《重返基利貝格斯》

索爾·沙朗東著，人民文學(xué)出版社/上海九久讀書人

WINNER OF SOCIAL

SCIENCE AWARD

Zhang Zujian

Prize Winning Work:

La Mis?re du monde written by Pierre Bourdieu,

China Renmin University

Press

社科類獲獎?wù)撸?/p>

張祖建，譯作《世界的苦難：布爾迪厄的社會調(diào)查》

皮埃爾·布爾迪厄著，中國人民大學(xué)出版社

NEWCOMER AWARD

Ma Jiening

Prize Winning Work:

Tocqueville: les sources

aristocratiques de la libert? written by Lucien Jaume,

Sanhui Books / Linjiang Press新人獎獲獎?wù)撸?/p>

馬潔寧，譯作《托克維爾：自由的貴族源泉》

呂西安·若姆著，三輝圖書/漓江出版社

It is with great sadness that our expertise translator Lin Yaling passed away in the spring this year.She had been the permanent judge since the founding of the award, and was also the chief of the committee in the last session. Through her translations, French readers gradually get to know more about Chinese modern literature, including the works of Chinese writers such as Yan Lianke and Mo Yan. When talking about translators, Mo Yan commented that quot;Translation is sometimes harder than creation.quot; Throughout the awarding ceremony you can feel the atmosphere of paying tribute to Lin Yaling. Translators were showing respect and honour to Lin Yaling with crisp-white fl owers and elaborated translation works.

Translation: help me, help you

Names of the translators are often printed on the front page of a book, right next to the names of the authors. Yet people still tend to overlook the important roles played by translators. Fu Lei Prize not only appreciates their respectable endeavours,but also introduces these translators to the public for further communication.

How long and how much efforts does it take from translation to publication? In the activities following the awarding ceremony, the translators talked about their personal experience and spiritual journey; the publishers mentioned the details from collaborating with the translators to promoting publications; the authors also shared their feelings upon receiving the translation works of their own pieces.

The translators still stuck to the topics of translating literature even in the spotlight. To these people translation is more than a bridge connecting Chinese and French cultures. Some of them have sought their own healing from it, others have opened up their vision and thus become more well-rounded during the process. They gain from ploughing, bringing better harvests to the readers.

quot;If you compare an ordinary translation work to a remarkable one, you would fi nd something more of the soul of the translator, in the latter, an indication that the translation is integrated with the creation.quot; This was the criterion Lin Yaling always brought up. We can see it glowing in the works of these translators.