文学学会向更多读者推荐世界作家

Institute Seeks to Bring International

Writers to Wider Audience

文学学会向更多读者推荐世界作家

 

The International Institute of Modern Letters is bringing the works of contemporary writers, including political dissidents, to a wider audience. The project is an effort to expand the diversity of voices in the world of literature.

 

Longtime writer and editor Eric Olsen sometimes hears the complaint that American publishers avoid international writers, except the best known, whose works are likely to sell. He heard that criticism at a literary conference.

 

Eric Olsen: One of the chaps there announced that there aren't many translations published in this country because we are a parochial, provincial¹ nation. Well, I think it's more economic, actually. I mean, the cost of translation tends to eat up any potential profit.

 

That is where his institute comes in. With offices in Las Vegas and Wellington, New Zealand, the International Institute of Modern Letters was started five years ago by hotel and casino executive Glenn Schaeffer. It subsidizes the translation of foreign-language books, which allows US publishers to put them out and still earn a profit.

 

The project will eventually issue six to eight books a year under the name Rainmaker Translations, in conjunction with four publishing companies.

 

Two books have just been released. One, called Midnight's Gate, is a collection of essays by dissident Chinese poet Bei Dao. The other is a novel by Russian writer Yuri Rytkheu called A Dream in Polar Fog. The author is a member of the Chukchi peoples of the Russian Arctic.

 

Mr. Olsen says that work, already well known to readers in parts of Europe, examines a theme that is relevant to his institute's mission.

 

Eric Olsen: The novel takes place in early 20th century Siberia, and it involves kind of a cultural clash between the Chukchi and some Canadian whalers. It involves a kind of clash and a reconciliation², and that's sort of what we're trying to get at in the grander scheme, is get a little cross-cultural fertilization and dialogue going, and this seemed to fit into that perfectly³.

 

Among future projects, the International Institute of Modern Letters will publish a memoir⁴ by Chinese dissident artist and writer Er Tai Gao, who now lives in Las Vegas as a writer-in-residence with the Cities of Asylum⁵ project. The project brings persecuted⁶ authors to cities around the world, where they receive a stipend⁷ and living quarters, and can freely pursue their writing. The International Institute of Modern Letters runs the Las Vegas branch of the program.

 

The institute is currently planning a translation of a work by the Hungarian-born German writer Terezia Mora. Mr. Olsen says it will also translate the works of contemporary American writers, such as the poet Robert Creeley, for distribution in Chinese. This will be done under the project title Art Both Ways.

 

He says the goal of all these activities is to foster a dialogue between the world's readers and writers, and overcome the language barriers that divide them.

 

Mike O'Sullivan, VOA News, Los Angeles.

 

注释：

International Institute of Modern Letters 现代国际文学学会

contemporary [kEn5tempErEri] adj. 当代的

diversity [dai5vE:siti] n. 多样性

parochial [pE5rEukjEl] adj. 受限制的，狭小的

tend to 注意，趋向

Wellington [5weliNtEn] n. 惠灵顿

casino [kE5si:nEu] n. 娱乐场

executive [i^5zekjutiv] n. 管理人员

subsidize [5sQbsidaiz] v. 资助

in conjunction with 与......协力

relevant [5relivEnt] adj. 相应的，相关的

Chukchi [5tFJktFi:] n. 楚克其人

reconciliation [7rekEnsili5eiFEn] n. 和谐

cross-cultural [5krCs5kQltFLrLl] adj. 超越一种文化的

persecuted [5pE:sikju:tid] adj. 被迫害的

1 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

2 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

4 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

5 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

6 persecuted   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. 人们因宗教信仰而受迫害的情况贯穿了整个历史。
• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。

7 stipend   

n.薪贴；奖学金；养老金

参考例句：

• The company is going to ajust my stipend from this month onwards.从这一个月开始公司将对我的薪金作调整。
• This sum was nearly a third of his total stipend.这笔钱几乎是他全部津贴的三分之一。