ABSTRACT
For Chinese literature to finally find greater cultural capital and prestige in the West, it must overcome three barriers: firstly, it must reach more English readers and should be presented in the best English translations in publications that conform to Western audience’s highest design expectations; secondly, Chinese literature needs external, independent, and transparent validation in the form of symbolic capital, like literary prizes; and finally, there must be a way for scholars to track the process of translation and publication from the distinct Chinese literary economies into the English publishing industry in order to better understand the translative process and reception of Chinese literature in the English-speaking world. Over the last half century, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and beyond have continually promoted Chinese literature in the West in the form of English-language publications meant to engage English-speaking audiences, yet it was only in 2010 when the United States launched its first Chinese literature translation journal, Chinese Literature Today. CLT publishes Chinese literature and poetry in translation, alongside reviews, essays, and interviews in a full-color, high-design format following the model of the journal’s sister trade publication, World Literature Today, America’s oldest international literary journal (founded in 1927 as Books Abroad). While there are a number of prestigious Chinese literary prizes in East Asia, it was not until the establishment of the Newman Prize for Chinese Literature in 2009 that there was finally a prestigious international award focused on Sinophone literature in the West. The Newman Prize became more well-known internationally when Mo Yan, who was the inaugural winner of the Newman Prize, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature three years later. The Newman Prize was established to provide an unbiased international validation of the best writing in Chinese language(s) (華語) and is conferred entirely on literary merits determined by an international jury of established Chinese literature scholars through a transparent voting process. Following from the prize’s unique charter, winners of the prize have included writers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the PRC, and South East Asia. Finally, the Chinese Literature Translation Archive collects the papers of the world’s best-known Chinese literature translators (like Howard Goldblatt, Arthur Waley, Wolfgang Kubin, Brian Holton and others) to offer scholars a window into the black box of translations with letters, draft materials, and notes that disambiguate the complex systems that undergird transpacific literary translation and publication.
