Monika Gaenssbauer | Nicholas Olczak (Eds.)
Of forests and humans
Hong Kong contemporary short fiction
edition cathay, band 74 (Sprache: EN)
2019; 126 Seiten
ISSN 0946-2325
ISBN 978-3-89733-506-6

From a girl who finds a forest of water pipes climbing between the city’s buildings, to a woman ‘cursed’ by a pair of Greek sandals, these short stories show us different sides of Hong Kong. Written by some of Hong Kong’s best women writers, including Sharon Chung, Xi Xi, Hon Lai-Chu, Chan Lai Kuen, Wang Pu, and Jessie Chu, the stories are translated for the first time into English. These stories are impressively varied in both style and content. Each short story is accompanied by a ‘close reading’ which offers an interpretation of the text. The interpretations are grounded in a philological approach and informed by studies on place, while at the same time locating each story in the context of Hong Kong’s culture and history. “By combining a translation project with a critical companion to the translated literary texts, Monika Gaenssbauer and Nicholas Olczak offer a useful study tool and a handy reference guide for students and general readers interested in contemporary Hong Kong short fiction. (”Prof. Terry Siu-han Yip, Baptist University of Hong Kon).

Monika Gaenssbauer is Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at the Universities of Stockholm and Erlangen. She has a research focus on contemporary Hong Kong literature and translation in theory and practice. During the years 2014-2017 she was Honorary Professor of Translation Studies at the Open University of Hong Kong.

Nicholas Olczak lived in Hong Kong for more than half a decade and now resides in Stockholm where he researches China’s international relations. He continues to have a strong interest in.