Martin Woesler
Encyclopedia
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Martin Woesler is a German sinologist, cultural scientist and translator of Chinese literature
. He is Professor of Intercultural Communication with the University of Applied Languages, Munich, Germany.
鲁迅, Zhōu Zuòrén
周作人, Xǔ Dìshān
许地山, Yù Dáfū
郁达夫, Zhū Zìqīng
朱自清, Bīng Xīn
冰心, Bā Jīn
巴金, Qián Zhōngshū
钱锺书, Wáng Měng
王蒙, Zhāng Jié
张洁, Liú Zàifù 刘再复, Jiǎ Píngwā
贾平凹, and Hán Hán
韩寒 into English and German as well as of Cáo Xuěqín
曹雪芹 into German. Together with Rainer Schwarz he published the first complete translation of the Chinese novel The Dream of the Red Chamber
into German. Woesler made available a lot of Chinese literature
for the first time in a Western language.
In China, Woesler documented a critical campaign against the liberal Minister of Culture Wáng Měng
王蒙 and proofed, that this campaign only pretended to be motivated by interest in literature, but actually was motivated by politics (Political literature in China 1991-1992, 1994). He turned the until then neglected genre of the Chinese essay into a modern tool to express the upcoming individualism in China before the eyes of the European and American China Studies (History of the Chinese essay, 3 vols., 1998). These short first-person narratives, which mostly appeared in newspapers between the May-4th-movement 1919 and the beginning of the 1930s, were a new form for the awaking civil society to express its views and feelings. From the 1930s until around 1979, the essay faced an ideological instrumentalization at the expense of its literary quality. Woesler drew attention to the essayistic work of Zhōu Zuòrén
, the younger brother of Lu Xun, who was ostracized due to his positive attitude towards Japan and his independence from daily politics and propaganda. Woesler's re-evaluation of Zhou's work were confirmed by different scholars outside mainland China. In fact, Zhou's writing of intentionally unpolitical literature in a time when literature was instrumenalized, was a political statement by itself. Woeslers work in the tensional field between politics and literature stimulated further books on Zhou, mostly from North American sinologists, supporting the necessity to re-evaluate Zhou.
Since the 1980s, China sees the upcoming of a critical public again. Woesler sees here a parallel between the role of the internet since the 1990s and the newspapers between the 1910s and 1930s. In his books (China's digital dream 2002, and others), together with Chinese scholars, he came to the conclusion, that the internet in China has a more liberalizing impact on society than it has in more liberal countries.
. He himself translated two very different novels for the Book Fair: The most uncontentious canonized classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber by Cáo Xuěqín
曹雪芹, which has never been fully translated into German before, and one of the most contentious books of China today, Panda Sex by Mián Mián
棉棉. As the main trend of Chinese literature
, Woesler sees young authors describing their everyday life in a rapidly and excitingly changing reality. The main motivation force of this literature is the alienation, initiated by urbanization and loss of orientation. Young Chinese do not live in and for the traditional family clan anymore, but are on their own. This has added a more critical and independent view to Chinese literature
. The stories are dealing with drugs abuse, alienation, singles and the world of dreams. This touches also Western readers of translations.
After the liberal 1980s, the 1990s saw a strong commerzialization of literature due to an opening of the book market. Woesler sees the following trends: 'cult literature' with Guo Jingming 郭敬明
, '悲伤逆流成河 Cry me a sad river', vagabond literature with Xu Zechen 徐则臣, '跑步穿过中关村 Peking double quick', Liu Zhenyun 刘震云, '我叫刘跃 The pickpockets', underground literature Mian Mian 棉棉
, '声名狼籍 Panda Sex', 'longing for something' literature, divided in historicizing literature with Yu Dan 于丹
, '《论语》心得 Confucius in your heart', Yi Zhongtian 易中天
and in Tibetan literature with Alai
, literature of the mega cities, women's literature with Bi Shumin, master narratives by narrators like Mo Yan 莫言
with '生死疲勞 (Life and Death are Wearing me out)'.
However Chinese literature at the beginning of the 21st century shows signs of overcoming the commercialization of literature of the 1980s and 1990s. An example is Han Han 韩寒
's novel His land (Ta de guo 他的国, 2009), which was written in a social critical surrealistic style against the uncritical mainstream, but ranked 1st in 2009 Chinese bestseller list. The online literature plays a more important role.
Martin Woesler is a German sinologist, cultural scientist and translator of Chinese literature
Chinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
. He is Professor of Intercultural Communication with the University of Applied Languages, Munich, Germany.
Sinologist, translator of Chinese literature
Woesler translated works from the Chinese authors Lǔ XùnLu Xun
Lu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
鲁迅, Zhōu Zuòrén
Zhou Zuoren
Zhou Zuoren was a Chinese writer, primarily known as an essayist and a translator. He was the younger brother of Lu Xun , the second of three brothers.-Early life:...
周作人, Xǔ Dìshān
Xu Dishan
Xu Dishan is a Chinese author, translator and folklorist. He is best known for his chinese novels that focuses on the people of the southern provinces of China and Southeast Asia....
许地山, Yù Dáfū
Yu Dafu
Yu Dafu . Born in Fuyang, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, was a modern Chinese short story writer and poet.-Early years:...
郁达夫, Zhū Zìqīng
Zhu Ziqing
Zhu Ziqing was a renowned Chinese poet and essayist. Zhu studied at Peking University, and during the May Fourth Movement became one of several pioneers of modernism in China during the 1920s. Zhu was a prolific writer of both prose and poetry, but is best known for essays like "Retreating...
朱自清, Bīng Xīn
Bing Xin
Bingxin was one of the most prolific and esteemed Chinese writers of the 20th Century. Many of her works were written for young readers...
冰心, Bā Jīn
Ba Jin
Li Yaotang , courtesy name Feigan , is considered to be one of the most important and widely-read Chinese writers of the 20th century. He wrote under the pen name of Ba Jin , Pa Chin, Li Fei-Kan, Li Pei-Kan, Pa Kin, allegedly taking his pseudonym from Russian anarchists Bakunin and Kropotkin...
巴金, Qián Zhōngshū
Qian Zhongshu
Qian Zhongshu was a Chinese literary scholar and writer, known for his wit and erudition.He is best known for his satiric novel Fortress Besieged . His works of non-fiction are characterised by their large amount of quotations in both Chinese and Western languages...
钱锺书, Wáng Měng
Wang Meng (author)
Wang Meng is a Chinese writer.Wang Meng was born in Beijing in 1934. During his middle school years, he was introduced to communist ideology and in 1949 officially joined the Communist Youth League....
王蒙, Zhāng Jié
Zhang Jie (writer)
Zhang Jie is a Chinese novelist and short-story writer. She was one of China's first contributors to feminist fiction.Her novel Leaden Wings was translated into German in 1982 and published in England in 1987 by Virago Press....
张洁, Liú Zàifù 刘再复, Jiǎ Píngwā
Jia Pingwa
Jia Pingwa is a Chinese novelist.He is the third most popular writer in China, in a biennial poll conducted by the Chinese Publishing Science Research Center in 2006. His Turbulence: A Novel won the Pegasus prize in literature...
贾平凹, and Hán Hán
Han Han
Han Han is a Chinese professional rally driver, best-selling author, singer, creator of Party and China's most popular blogger—indeed, possibly the most popular blogger in the world. He has published five novels to date, and is represented by the Hong Kong based . He is also involved in music...
韩寒 into English and German as well as of Cáo Xuěqín
Cao Xueqin
Cao Xueqin was a Qing Dynasty Chinese writer, best known as the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature...
曹雪芹 into German. Together with Rainer Schwarz he published the first complete translation of the Chinese novel The Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber , composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is considered to be a masterpiece of Chinese vernacular literature and is generally acknowledged to be a pinnacle of...
into German. Woesler made available a lot of Chinese literature
Chinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
for the first time in a Western language.
In China, Woesler documented a critical campaign against the liberal Minister of Culture Wáng Měng
Wang Meng (author)
Wang Meng is a Chinese writer.Wang Meng was born in Beijing in 1934. During his middle school years, he was introduced to communist ideology and in 1949 officially joined the Communist Youth League....
王蒙 and proofed, that this campaign only pretended to be motivated by interest in literature, but actually was motivated by politics (Political literature in China 1991-1992, 1994). He turned the until then neglected genre of the Chinese essay into a modern tool to express the upcoming individualism in China before the eyes of the European and American China Studies (History of the Chinese essay, 3 vols., 1998). These short first-person narratives, which mostly appeared in newspapers between the May-4th-movement 1919 and the beginning of the 1930s, were a new form for the awaking civil society to express its views and feelings. From the 1930s until around 1979, the essay faced an ideological instrumentalization at the expense of its literary quality. Woesler drew attention to the essayistic work of Zhōu Zuòrén
Zhou Zuoren
Zhou Zuoren was a Chinese writer, primarily known as an essayist and a translator. He was the younger brother of Lu Xun , the second of three brothers.-Early life:...
, the younger brother of Lu Xun, who was ostracized due to his positive attitude towards Japan and his independence from daily politics and propaganda. Woesler's re-evaluation of Zhou's work were confirmed by different scholars outside mainland China. In fact, Zhou's writing of intentionally unpolitical literature in a time when literature was instrumenalized, was a political statement by itself. Woeslers work in the tensional field between politics and literature stimulated further books on Zhou, mostly from North American sinologists, supporting the necessity to re-evaluate Zhou.
Since the 1980s, China sees the upcoming of a critical public again. Woesler sees here a parallel between the role of the internet since the 1990s and the newspapers between the 1910s and 1930s. In his books (China's digital dream 2002, and others), together with Chinese scholars, he came to the conclusion, that the internet in China has a more liberalizing impact on society than it has in more liberal countries.
Categorization and description of trends of contemporary Chinese literature
In preparation of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2009, when China was the guest of honor, Woesler categorized contemporary Chinese literatureChinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
. He himself translated two very different novels for the Book Fair: The most uncontentious canonized classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber by Cáo Xuěqín
Cao Xueqin
Cao Xueqin was a Qing Dynasty Chinese writer, best known as the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature...
曹雪芹, which has never been fully translated into German before, and one of the most contentious books of China today, Panda Sex by Mián Mián
Mian Mian
Mian Mian is a Chinese writer. She writes on China's once-taboo topics and she is a promoter of Shanghai's local music. Her publications have earned her the reputation as China's literary wild child, and some are banned in China....
棉棉. As the main trend of Chinese literature
Chinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
, Woesler sees young authors describing their everyday life in a rapidly and excitingly changing reality. The main motivation force of this literature is the alienation, initiated by urbanization and loss of orientation. Young Chinese do not live in and for the traditional family clan anymore, but are on their own. This has added a more critical and independent view to Chinese literature
Chinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
. The stories are dealing with drugs abuse, alienation, singles and the world of dreams. This touches also Western readers of translations.
After the liberal 1980s, the 1990s saw a strong commerzialization of literature due to an opening of the book market. Woesler sees the following trends: 'cult literature' with Guo Jingming 郭敬明
Guo Jingming
Guo Jingming is a Chinese author. His books are popular among young people in China, and he was the second best-selling writer in China in 2005. Guo has published 5 books so far. Also he is now the editor of the magazine 'I5LAND'.-Works:Guo's first book, Huan Cheng Guo Jingming (born June 6,...
, '悲伤逆流成河 Cry me a sad river', vagabond literature with Xu Zechen 徐则臣, '跑步穿过中关村 Peking double quick', Liu Zhenyun 刘震云, '我叫刘跃 The pickpockets', underground literature Mian Mian 棉棉
Mian Mian
Mian Mian is a Chinese writer. She writes on China's once-taboo topics and she is a promoter of Shanghai's local music. Her publications have earned her the reputation as China's literary wild child, and some are banned in China....
, '声名狼籍 Panda Sex', 'longing for something' literature, divided in historicizing literature with Yu Dan 于丹
Yu Dan
Yu Dan is an associate professor at China's Beijing Normal University. She is also assistant to the Dean, Faculty of Arts & Media, as well as Head, Department of Film & Television Media. She receives a master degree in ancient Chinese literature and a doctoral degree in film & TV studies from...
, '《论语》心得 Confucius in your heart', Yi Zhongtian 易中天
Yi Zhongtian
Yi Zhongtian is a Chinese writer, historian, scholar and television personality.-Biography:Yi spent his childhood in Changsha, Hunan, and spent his adolescent years in Wuhan, Hubei. In 1965, after graduating from high school, Yi was sent to Xinjiang as a member of the Xinjiang Production and...
and in Tibetan literature with Alai
Alai
Alai or Alay may refer to:* Alai , Tamil movie* Alay Mountains* Alay Valley* Alai , a character from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series* Alai , an ethnic Tibetan Chinese author, author of Red Poppies...
, literature of the mega cities, women's literature with Bi Shumin, master narratives by narrators like Mo Yan 莫言
Mo Yan
Mo Yan is a modern Chinese author, described as "one of the most famous, oft-banned and widely pirated of all Chinese writers". He is known in the West for two of his novels which were the basis of the film Red Sorghum. He has been referred to as the Chinese answer to Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller...
with '生死疲勞 (Life and Death are Wearing me out)'.
However Chinese literature at the beginning of the 21st century shows signs of overcoming the commercialization of literature of the 1980s and 1990s. An example is Han Han 韩寒
Han Han
Han Han is a Chinese professional rally driver, best-selling author, singer, creator of Party and China's most popular blogger—indeed, possibly the most popular blogger in the world. He has published five novels to date, and is represented by the Hong Kong based . He is also involved in music...
's novel His land (Ta de guo 他的国, 2009), which was written in a social critical surrealistic style against the uncritical mainstream, but ranked 1st in 2009 Chinese bestseller list. The online literature plays a more important role.
Translations from Chinese into English
- The Chinese Essay in the 20th Century, The University Press Bochum, 2000, 496 (xlii, 205, 229) pp., ISBN 978-3-934453-14-2, incl. 42 essays, both in Chinese and English, and an introduction to the genre. It contains texts from Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Xu Dishan, Yu Dafu, Zu Ziqing, Bing Xin, Ba Jin, Qian Zhongshu, Yang Shuo, Sun Li, Wang Zengqi, Yu GuangzhongYu GuangzhongYu Guangzhong is a modern Taiwanese writer, poet, educator, and critic. He was born in Nanjing, China but forced to flee with his family owing to the Japanese Army's invasion during World War II. After returning to Nanjing many years later, he again was forced to flee on account of the Communist...
, Wang Meng, Zhang Jie, Liu Zaifu, Xue Erkang, Ye Meng, Jia Pingwa, and Si Yu.
in English
- Martin Woesler, ed., The Modern Chinese Literary Essay - Defining the Chinese Self in the 20th Century - Conference Proceedings, Bochum, The University Press Bochum, 2000, 327 pp., ISBN 978-3-934453-15-9
- Harvard lecture on the 20th century Chinese essay, Bochum 3rd ed. 2006, book series Scripta Sinica vol. 4
- Yale lecture on the 20th century Chinese essay, Bochum 2nd ed. 2005, ISBN 978-389966-102-6, 58 pp., book series Scripta Sinica vol. 3
- Comparing Chinese and German culture, Bochum 2006, book series Comparative Cultural Sciences vol. 2
in German
- Chinese cultic literature 2008/2009 - authors, works, trends, Munich 2009, 127 pp., book series Sinica vol. 25
- Chinese contemporary literature - authors, works, trends – A snap-shot 2007/2008, Munich 2008, 267 pp., book series Sinica vol. 23
- Timeless Chinese poetry from the beginnings to the “China avant-garde”, Bochum 4th ed. 2007, 72 pp., book series Scripta Sinica vol. 8
- The history of the Chinese essay, Bochum, 2nd ed. 2009, xiii, 900 pp.
- My Essays are my ‘Longing for Freedom’ - Wang Meng, Former Minister of Culture, as Essayist in the Period 1948-1992, ix, 394 pp, Frankfurt / Main, Peter Lang Press 1998
- Political Literature in China 1991-92 - Wang Meng's 'Reform of Breakfast Habits'. A Translation of the Story “Hard Porridge” and the Documentation of an Absurd Debate, Bochum 2nd ed. 2003, 252 pp., book series Sinica vol. 13
- Valuation criteria for literature – The Dream of the Red Chamber as the most important Chinese novel, Bochum 3rd ed. 2006, 66 pp., book series Scripta Sinica vol. 7
Works on the Chinese internet
- Zhang Junhua, Martin Woesler, eds., China’s digital dream. The impact of the Internet on Chinese society, The University Press Bochum 2002.10, 274 pp., ISBN 978-3-934453-90-6
Literature
- Wolf Baus, News on Chinese literature, in: East Asian Literature Bulletin (1994.11, issue 17), pp. 109 – 114
- Wolfgang Kubin, Introduction: Prose, Essays, in: History of Chinese Literature, vol. 4, Bonn 2.2004, p. 3
- European Science & Scholarship Association: Statement of the jury awarding Martin Woesler the prize 'Desideratum 2007'
Comparative cultural scientist
In the field of cultural comparison Woesler has advanced the existing models by contributing descriptive, high-contrast examples of distant cultures, like the Anglo-American and the Chinese. Here he has enriched the theory of cultureshocks with the term own culture shock, which describes the state of shock a person crossing cultures can suffer from when he returns to his own culture. Woesler has set different traditional models of comparison of cultures in the framework of a related system and further developed them in front of the background of globalization, mobility, and the internet. In 2006, he developed the model of culture maps, in which all cultural phenomena are positioned in a coordinate system and related with phenomena of other cultures. Applying the model, even mixed cultures can be described better than with traditional models.Works on comparative cultural science
- A new model of intercultural communication – critically reviewing, combining and further developing the basic models of Permutter, Yoshikawa, Hall, Hofstede, Thomas, Hallpike, and the social-constructivism, Bochum/Berlin 2009, book series Comparative Cultural Sciences vol. 1 [Introducing a model to compare distant cultures like the Chinese and the Anglo-American one.]
- co-ed. of the book series 'Comparative Cultural Science' with Matthias Kettner
Sources
Interviews with Martin Woesler- Philipp Stelzner, "What do Chinese people read? About fast moving party literature and long novels" in: television channels N24/Pro7/Sat1, broadcast date 2009/10/15
- Lisa Grant, Frankfurt/Washington D.C., American National Radio "Meeting of official and dissident authors at the Frankfurt Book Fair", background interview 2009/10/14
- Angela Gutzeit, Deutschlandfunk Cologne, Rich Chinese Literature at the Frankfurt Book Fair, 2009/10/13 4.10-4.30 pm
- Henrik Schmitz, China for a long time was leading world literature, evangelisch.de, Frankfurt 2009/10/01
- Nicole Stöcker, The Chinese culture has not yet shaken off its status of exotism, in: Buchreport, pp 54–55, Dortmund 2009/09/01, issue 9
- Jennifer Minke, The hour of the young authors, weekly magazine "Börsenblatt", Frankfurt 2008/5