Backlist books is a column by Lucy Day Werts that focuses on enduring, important works from or about Asia.
This post is about The Annotated Malay Archipelago, a version of the book that 19th-century naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace wrote based on journals from his eight-year journey among the islands of Southeast Asia several years after his return to England. It was originally published in two volumes in 1869, and has never been out of print.
Wallace, a contemporary and correspondent of Charles Darwin, helped develop, or at least accepted early on, Darwin’s theory of natural selection and plotted what is now known as the Wallace Line, which separates the two ecologically distinct zones of Asia and Australia.
Contemporary readers will probably wince at Wallace’s “kill and collect” approach to studying exotic birds and mammals and abhor his characteristically Victorian racist generalisations about the physical and moral characteristics of the Asian people he encountered. Nevertheless, his work is worth reading. Wallace was an intrepid adventurer intent on studying creatures in far-flung lands, and his fascination with the wonders of the natural world continues to inspire joy.
See below to find out what you need to know to decide whether you should read The Annotated Malay Archipelago, or what you should know about it even if you never do!
Thursday 25 October 2018
Friday 19 October 2018
Indie Spotlight: Matthew Legare
Indie spotlight focusses on self-published authors and self-publishing. Here, Matthew Legare discusses his new novel Shadows of Tokyo, the first in a projected historical thriller-noir series set in pre-World War II Japan. The second book, Smoke Over Tokyo, is coming soon.
Matthew is an indie author publishing under the Black Mist Books imprint. He also reviews new fiction and interviews authors on his blog.
So, over to Matthew…
Matthew is an indie author publishing under the Black Mist Books imprint. He also reviews new fiction and interviews authors on his blog.
So, over to Matthew…
Wednesday 17 October 2018
On translation, by Nicky Harman
Nicky Harman, Yan Ge, Natascha Bruce
Let’s talk literary translation, or how to keep audiences riveted
by swearing at them
Last week, I was at Cheltenham Literary Festival, appearing on a panel with Yan Ge and Natascha Bruce. We had carte blanche to talk about Translating China, but decided to focus on Yan Ge’s new novel, The Chilli BeanPaste Clan (Chinese: 《我们家》) because (let’s be honest) it helps sales, and because the three of us all had plenty to say about the book.
Last week, I was at Cheltenham Literary Festival, appearing on a panel with Yan Ge and Natascha Bruce. We had carte blanche to talk about Translating China, but decided to focus on Yan Ge’s new novel, The Chilli BeanPaste Clan (Chinese: 《我们家》) because (let’s be honest) it helps sales, and because the three of us all had plenty to say about the book.
The Chilli
Bean Paste Clan is set in a fictional town in West China
and is the story of the Duan-Xue family, owners of the town’s lucrative chilli
bean paste factory, their formidable matriarch, and her badly-behaved, middle-aged
son. As the old lady’s eightieth birthday approaches, her children get together
to make preparations. Tensions that have simmered for many
years come to the surface, family secrets are revealed and long-time sibling
rivalries flare up with renewed vigour.
Friday 12 October 2018
The Deer and the Cauldron, guest post by John Minford
Between 1997 and 2002, John Minford, now Emeritus Professor of Chinese at the Australian National University, brought out a three-volume translation of the rollicking Chinese martial arts novel, called, in English, The Deer and the Cauldron, with Oxford University Press Hong Kong (OUP HK). Now OUP UK has published it in the UK. As John explains: "I worked on the translation with David Hawkes, my father-in-law, and, on the last volume, with my late wife Rachel May, for about 10 years from the mid 1990s."
John here writes about the sprawling and beguiling example of Chinese popular culture he and his collaborators worked on for so long.
John here writes about the sprawling and beguiling example of Chinese popular culture he and his collaborators worked on for so long.
Thursday 11 October 2018
Oxford University Press Pakistan book fair
The annual month-long Oxford Book Fair, organized by Oxford University Press (OUP), is running until 7 November at Oxford bookshops in cities throughout Pakistan. The much-awaited yearly event always draws a large number of visitors. The selection of books featured includes both locally published and imported children's books, English Language Teaching material, reference books, and school and higher education textbooks.
For the general reader, there are non-fiction titles on international affairs, politics, history, anthropology, women’s studies, art, and literature.
Biographies and memoirs of prominent Pakistani personalities are being showcased.
Oxford’s hallmark English and bi-lingual dictionaries and thesauruses are available at special, reduced prices.
For the general reader, there are non-fiction titles on international affairs, politics, history, anthropology, women’s studies, art, and literature.
Biographies and memoirs of prominent Pakistani personalities are being showcased.
Oxford’s hallmark English and bi-lingual dictionaries and thesauruses are available at special, reduced prices.
Tuesday 9 October 2018
A Yellow House: Elaine Chiew Talks to Karien van Ditzhuijzen
Credit: Lina Meissen Photography |
After a
childhood of moving around Asia, the Middle East and Europe, Karien van
Ditzhuijzen moved to Singapore in 2012. Karien has a degree in chemical
engineering, but gave up her career developing ice cream recipes to become a
writer. She now dedicates her life (in no particular order) to advocating
migrant workers’ rights, her family, her pet chicken and being entertained by
monkeys while writing at the patio of her jungle house.
As a
freelance writer and blogger Karien contributes to several publications in
Singapore and the Netherlands. In 2012 she published a children’s book in Dutch
recounting her childhood in Borneo. Karien van
Ditzhuijzen’s debut novel A Yellow House
was published by Monsoon Books in 2018. This poignant coming-of-age story, told
in the voice of inquisitive ten-year-old Maya, explores the plight of migrant
domestic workers in Singapore and the relationships they form with the families
they work for.
Karien has been working with
migrant domestic workers since 2012, when she joined HOME, a charity that
supports migrant workers in Singapore. In the following years Karien worked
closely with domestic worker writers, documenting their stories and sharing them
on the blog www.myvoiceathome.org and as editor of the anthology 'Our Homes, Our
Stories'.
The strong women Karien met
through her charity work were the inspiration for A Yellow House.
Saturday 6 October 2018
500 words from Robert F. Delaney
500 words from is an occasional series in which novelists talk about their new novels. Robert F. Delaney has just brought out The Wounded Muse.
Robert has been covering China as a journalist for media outlets including Dow Jones Newswires and Bloomberg News since 1995, and was recently appointed U.S. Bureau Chief for the South China Morning Post. In his spare time, he turned to writing about the personal struggles of those caught in the middle of China’s ongoing transformation into an economic powerhouse. Many of the themes for The Wounded Muse were first developed in his earlier collection, Route 1 to China. Robert now splits his time between New York City and Toronto.
The Wounded Muse, a novel based on actual events, follows Qiang as he returns to his homeland, China, from Silicon Valley, during the lead up to the 2008 Olympic Games. In Beijing, he finds wrecking balls are knocking down entire neighborhoods to make way for fancy modern structures. Qiang begins shooting footage of the tumult for a documentary. When he’s arrested, it falls on his sister, Diane, and an American journalist, Jake, to figure out how to end his detention. With different ideas about how to approach a vast Chinese security apparatus, Diane and Jake don’t know how to trust each other. Meanwhile, Dawei, an itinerant Jake befriended years earlier, returns to Beijing to retrieve a memento that has suddenly become valuable. Dawei finds himself ensnared in a plan to force the authorities to release Qiang.
So, over to Robert…
Robert has been covering China as a journalist for media outlets including Dow Jones Newswires and Bloomberg News since 1995, and was recently appointed U.S. Bureau Chief for the South China Morning Post. In his spare time, he turned to writing about the personal struggles of those caught in the middle of China’s ongoing transformation into an economic powerhouse. Many of the themes for The Wounded Muse were first developed in his earlier collection, Route 1 to China. Robert now splits his time between New York City and Toronto.
The Wounded Muse, a novel based on actual events, follows Qiang as he returns to his homeland, China, from Silicon Valley, during the lead up to the 2008 Olympic Games. In Beijing, he finds wrecking balls are knocking down entire neighborhoods to make way for fancy modern structures. Qiang begins shooting footage of the tumult for a documentary. When he’s arrested, it falls on his sister, Diane, and an American journalist, Jake, to figure out how to end his detention. With different ideas about how to approach a vast Chinese security apparatus, Diane and Jake don’t know how to trust each other. Meanwhile, Dawei, an itinerant Jake befriended years earlier, returns to Beijing to retrieve a memento that has suddenly become valuable. Dawei finds himself ensnared in a plan to force the authorities to release Qiang.
So, over to Robert…
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