BOOK REVIEWS

Noël Dutrait, Petit précis à l’usage de l’amateur de littérature chinoise contemporaine

Contemporary Chinese literature was virtually unknown in the West until the beginning of the 1980s, a result, according to Noël Dutrait in his brief guide to the subject, of the political situation in China up to that time. So, having chosen to give privileged treatment to the presentation of works translated into French over the past two decades, “while noting certain others that have not been translated although they would merit the attention”, the author proposes to his French readers some points of reference that will enable them to find their way around the swarm of movements, currents and schools, or quite simply to learn a little about the authors. The tome thus outlines the different periods that have characterised Chinese literature over the past fifty years: the literature of the first years of the Communist regime (1949-1966, the time of silence); the clandestine literature and the “poetry of the obscure” of the 1970s (the Menglong, or “misty”, school); the commentaries and reflections that saw the light of day after the Cultural Revolution (the literature of scars); the return of Western influences and the question of tradition (modernism and the search for literary roots) ; the “experimental” writing of the avant-garde (the novels of the new wave); the neo-realist novels that experienced a considerable boom after the autumn of 1989; women’s literature, one of the most striking phenomena of Chinese literature at the end of the twentieth century; and finally the Nobel Prize for Literature awarded in 2000 to Gao Xingjian.

Parallel to the new literature of mainland China, an important chapter in the book is dedicated to the literature of Taiwan and Hong Kong. “There exists in Taiwan a very lively literary world that deals in more measured terms with the human condition at the end of the twentieth century.”

This literary reflection on the human condition is set against a backdrop of a Taiwanese society that, almost entirely rural just twenty years earlier, is tilting into modernity and post-modernity thanks to the economic miracle and the new way of life. Another trait of Taiwanese literature that the author does not fail to underline is linked strongly to the sensitivity surrounding the campaign for independence. This covers writers who, clustered for the most part in the south of the island, assert themselves primarily as Taiwanese and produce what is known as the “literature of the soil”. It would be interesting to learn more of what appreciation the author holds of the literary quality of their works. At the end of this chapter, the author presents three Hong Kong writers, one of whom is Jin Yong, emblematic figure of the literature of “cloak and sabre” historical romances.

The presentation of the writers detailed in this work is often accompanied by short and pertinent commentaries based on translated extracts of their works, something which renders the reading more lively, persuasive and coherent. The underlining of the problems and polemics relating to certain concepts of the present-day Chinese literary world also constitutes a particular characteristic of this book.

In the conclusion, the author raises the unavoidable problem of translation: to the tremendous difficulty of translating the Chinese language is added the asserted difference in mentality. Despite the challenge of translating the literary language of Chinese writers, the mission is not impossible, however, if by literary translation one understands that this means reading the author (or “the other”) in a way different in the language of the author/“the other” and also in one’s own language. It is well known that in the dislocation of language, certain elements of “the other” will always remain invisible. The traps of dissymmetry are infinite. But literary translation is fundamental in getting to know both “the other” and oneself. What matters here is to explain a culture that is nearby, to another that is far away. What is also important is an introspection that helps the self move towards “the other” with the aim to go as far as possible.

This work, though small in size, represents a considerable sum of precise references to literary events and to writers dear to the author, who takes responsibility for his personal choices and voluntarily delivers them up for debate. It is regrettable, however, that the reflections of Noël Dutrait on some of his choices remain a little too brief. A rich bibliography on the Chinese literary works that have been translated into French is contained in an annex, which will not fail to encourage the wider public and students of Chinese literature from immersing themselves more directly in the works presented by the author.

Translated from the French original by Nick Oates