A affluent family’s nanny schemes to abduct the youngster under her supervision. Unfortunately, when the father of the family is arrested on corruption charges, her preparations fall apart. The story Women, Seated by Zhang Yueran is set in Beijing, however the premise of the novel might be set in Manhattan or Washington, D.C.
The book marks the beginning of Riverhead Books’ new initiative to publish more translated works of Chinese literature, which is being spearheaded by editor Han Zhang. Zhang wants to provide American readers a more comprehensive understanding of Chinese literary literature. She claimed that when people think of East Asian translated literature, they typically think of South Korean author Han Kang, who just received the Nobel Prize in Literature, or renowned Japanese author Haruki Murakami.
However, ask a typical reader to name a Chinese author. “People probably fumble to think of a name,” Zhang stated.
This is due to a few systemic factors. Zhang stated that there is the “general difficulty, both real and imagined, of doing business with a country with a pretty intensive censorship structure in place.”
Translator Eric Abrahamson worked in publishing in China for almost twenty years. Additionally, he stated that selling internationally frequently doesn’t make political or economical sense for a Chinese publisher. Simply said, it’s a lot of work with little anticipated reward. Historically, this has resulted in an unjust burden on the kinds of literature that did reach the United States.
“The earlier era of more academic publishing was very focused on finding the classics,” he stated. That means “people were expecting that book to do the work of explaining all of Chinese culture and history to them.”
In contrast, it would be difficult to find someone who understands Sweden by reading, example, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Or, as a metaphor for all Italians, reading Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels.
Zhang does not intend to publish books that are sweeping classics. However, they are brief glimpses into modern Chinese society.Women, Seated raises significant issues regarding feminism, work, and class. However, it also manages to be humorous, exciting, and relatable.
The book’s author, Zhang Yeuran, stated, “I believe that Western readers’ perceptions of Chinese literature have been fairly fixed for a long time.” It is frequently perceived as either having a strong Chinese cultural influence or being centered on rural, underprivileged people. This is irrelevant to our life now.
Two ladies are followed during the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong in the upcoming book editor Han Zhang is publishing. Another is a Taiwanese coming-of-age book. And yet another Malaysian book.
Mandarin Chinese is spoken by about a billion people. One book could never adequately capture their lives. Zhang merely wants to get glimpses of them, with some quite compelling tales.
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