A collection of Gombrowicz’s translated works was presented at the 12th Book fair in Beijing. The best Chinese translators of Polish literature, the editor and Chinese literature experts took part in the promotion on a stage in the form of a reading hall.
Five literary works hit the Chinese bookstands 15 years after the first edition of Ferdydurke in Beijing which was translated by the nestor of Chinese translators, the laureate of the Transatlantic award, Professor Yi Lijun. The publication of this collection is the effect of many years of work by the most acclaimed Chinese translators and of several months of preparations. It also represents a new stage in the cooperation between the Polish Institute in Beijing and the Literature and Art Publishing House in Shanghai and the portal 99reader.
The last five years have seen a flourishing of Chinese translations of Polish literary works. This was made possible thanks to the consistent support provided to Chinese translators who studied Polish language and culture by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Beijing and the Polish Institute in cooperation with the Book Institute and many academic centres in Poland. Chinese bookstores carry the works of Adam Mickiewicz, Henryk Sienkiewicz, and Wisława Szymborska.
Witold Gombrowicz began to publish his first works at the turn of the 1930s. The publication of Ferdydurke shoot Gombrowicz into literary stardom. His now famous expressions that have become everyday words of the Polish language like “upupienie” (“infantilisation”) or consciously denigrating oneself or “gęba” – personality or a role imposed on us by others. On the eve of the outbreak of WWII, Gombrowicz, a journalist then, boarded the passenger ship “MS Chrobry” sailing to South America. He decided to wait out the war in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, where he ultimately lived until 1963. Later he moved to France where he spent the rest of his life.
Besides Ryszard Kapuściński, Stanisław Lem, Sławomir Mrożek, Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska, Gombrowicz is one of the most often translated Polish writers. Gombrowicz’s literary works have been translated into over 30 languages: English, Arabic, Finnish, French, Spanish, Korean, German and Russian.
Source: MFA Press Office, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Institute in Beijing.
Photo © Maciej Gaca/Yue Zhao