Chinese won Nobel Literature Prize!!!

[yellowarse]

I always wonder about the Literature prize. Unlike the other science-based prize, how does one compare across languages? How does the Swede decide that a Chinese author deserves the prize?

Through translation of their works – be they Russian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish - into a language, usually English, that the Nobel Committee can read and understand. These translations are usually done by native speakers and writers of the language to which the works are translated.

Interestingly, when Rabindranath Tagore became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in 1913, it was for his English translations of his own Bengali writings. He was equally adept in both languages.

 

[Extremist]

 

[yellowarse]

A very young Gong Li and Jiang Wen in 红高梁！ Wonderful adaptation of the book by Zhang Yimou.

 

[Extremist]

A very young Gong Li and Jiang Wen in 红高梁！ Wonderful adaptation of the book by Zhang Yimou.

guy nest to gong li is the nobel lit prize winner

 

[Extremist]

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9IjnwHdG-BQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>//;;;;;;;''

 

[Extremist]

 

[akunei]

I always wonder about the Literature prize. Unlike the other science-based prize, how does one compare across languages? How does the Swede decide that a Chinese author deserves the prize?

i would think its the content , the story line and the historical & cultural setting of the piece of literature. cannot be based on the wording or language used.

 

[kopiuncle]

Singaporeans have no talent.

how can you compare singapore's 40 years of nation building with 10,000 years of chinese civilization. come on be realistic lah!!!

 

[yellowarse]

i would think its the content , the story line and the historical & cultural setting of the piece of literature. cannot be based on the wording or language used.

Originality and uniqueness of style is very important. The Nobel committee is always looking for writers who strike out in a new direction, who develop innovative ways of communicating with words. Gao Xingjian's use of the first, second and third person subjective tenses in Soul Mountain is an example.

So is mastery of language and lyricism of prose, which can be assessed even in translation. That's why great poets writing in non-European languages have won the Nobel.

As well as story-telling ability.

And impact and influence of writer's works on the literary world and their contributions to cultural, social and even political transformation.

 

[yellowarse]

Singaporeans have no talent.

No kiddin'. How come Malaysians got talent?

******************************

PETALING JAYA: Penang-born author Tan Twan Eng has become the first Malaysian shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize.

Tan, a former intellectual property lawyer, admitted to not expecting his novel The Garden of Evening Mists to be shortlisted, although he had been harbouring hopes that it would be.

“I feel honoured to be shortlisted with such a talented group of authors,” said the 40-year-old.

“On the morning of the shortlist announcement, my agent rang me and I rushed over to her office as there were invitations for cocktails and dinner from the Man Booker committee to confirm interviews.

Exciting chapter in his life: Tan posing with his book.

“There were hundreds of people at the reception that evening. I was introduced to the judges, and I got to meet many of the writers and columnists I've been reading about over the years.

“It's been overwhelming, with almost no time to stop and think!”

The other nominees are Bringing Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel,Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil, Swimming Home by Deborah Levy, The Lighthouse by Alison Moore and Umbrella by Will Self.

The winner will be announced on Oct 16.

Set in Cameron Highlands during the Japanese occupation, The Garden of Evening Mists is the story of Teoh Yun Ling, a survivor of a brutal Japanese camp, who is taken as an apprentice to Nakamura Aritomo, a former gardener to the Emperor of Japan, to design a garden in memory of her sister.

“I was writing about characters who, because of what they had experienced, were emotionally isolated, cut off from the people around them, their pain hidden from view. The 1950s Cameron Highlands reflected this sense of isolation: it was a small hill station, shrouded in mists, concealed from the rest of the country by distance and climate,” Tan said about his novel.

Tan was previously longlisted for the Man Booker in 2007 for his novelThe Gift of Rain, which won third prize in the fiction category of the 2009 Popular-The Star Readers' Choice Awards.

Considered one of the most important literary awards in the world, the Man Booker Prize for Fiction is awarded each year to the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The prize money amounts to 50,000 pounds (RM247,216).

Previous winners have include Salman Rushdie (Midnight's Children, 1981), Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things, 1997), Ian McEwan (Amsterdam, 1998) and Yann Martel (Life of Pi, 2002).

 

[halsey02]

i like his work 红高粱

Red Sorghum...maybe you will like his "Big Breast & Wide Hips" psst not porn book you know. I am reading his "Big Breast & Wide Hips" at the moment & "The Garlic Ballads" in eBooks...I have read Haruki Murakami, "After Dark" don't find it that good, and have not got started on "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman" in paperback.

I am a fan of Yukio Mishima, I read his books from school days, forking out a lot of money buying some of his translated works from MPH Stamford Road, " Spring Snow", "The Temple of The Golden Pavilion", "Runaway Horses", "The Sailor, who fell from grace with the sea".

I have heard of Mo Yan, but his translated books weren't available until recent years & now available by ebooks, which make it easier to know his works.

 

[Extremist]

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

and the Peace Prize goes to ...the European Union.

 

[Cruxx]

how can you compare singapore's 40 years of nation building with 10,000 years of chinese civilization. come on be realistic lah!!!

And yet Saint Lucia, a tiny country that only became independent in 1979, managed to produce a Nobel laureate in Literature. Face it, Singaporeans have no talent.

 

[Cruxx]

and the Peace Prize goes to ...the European Union.

Largest GDP in the world too, more than two times that of the Chinks.

 

[Cruxx]

No kiddin'. How come Malaysians got talent?

******************************

PETALING JAYA: Penang-born author Tan Twan Eng has become the first Malaysian shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize.

Tan, a former intellectual property lawyer, admitted to not expecting his novel The Garden of Evening Mists to be shortlisted, although he had been harbouring hopes that it would be.

“I feel honoured to be shortlisted with such a talented group of authors,” said the 40-year-old.

I doubt Kuan Yew cares for the Man Booker Prize.

“We tell them look they have got to work harder or they’ll become stupid. It’s just that they don’t see the point of it. Why race when you can canter and save your energy and do other things? Art, ballet, sports whereas these new migrants, they spend all their time slogging away in the library or at home.” - Lee Kuan Yew

 

[kopiuncle]

And yet Saint Lucia, a tiny country that only became independent in 1979, managed to produce a Nobel laureate in Literature. Face it, Singaporeans have no talent.

Yes, two Nobel laureates, Arthur Lewis, an economist, and Derek Walcott, a poet and playwright, have come from the island. It is the nation with the second most such honorees per capita after the Faroe Islands.

But look at its historical background and history lah....Singapore is just a budding nation.Give it time, we will be world class and produce first world writers ane economists. No need to hurry. Talent like the rain and sunshine is spread throughout the globe. Don't always despise Singapore and Singaporeans. Give us some time and we will rise to the occasion. Why must you keep throwing cold shower? You must be a very angry and envious ex-Singaporean who has gone overboard.

 

[wikiphile]

I am a fan of Yukio Mishima, I read his books from school days, forking out a lot of money buying some of his translated works from MPH Stamford Road, " Spring Snow", "The Temple of The Golden Pavilion", "Runaway Horses", "The Sailor, who fell from grace with the sea".

I should try to get some of his books, thank goodness for e-books today. He was one disturbed individual, detached from the realities and intricancies of his day

 

[kopiuncle]

the intricacies of the language used in literature can be quite mind boggling....

 

[wikiphile]

the intricacies of the language used in literature can be quite mind boggling....

In-fucking-deed, so when will you start making a 1000 feet cavity out of a hole in the ground?