The release ceremony of the Translations of French Literary Classics series was held on November 24 at Nanjing University Press, where Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature Le Clézio, chief editor of the series Xu Jun and other renowned writers and translators shared their views upon reading, translation and literature.
Among the first in the translation series are six representative works of famous French writers, including The Little Prince, by Saint-Exupéry, and Reveries of the Solitary Walker, by Rousseau.
Five renowned translators in China were engaged in the translation and did their best in rendering these French classics to Chinese with elegant language, accurate expressions and sincere feelings, said Xu Jun, himself an experienced French-Chinese translator.
“The everlasting life of literary classics lies in reading and new interpretation,” he said. “Good translation serves readers and promotes classics.”
Professor Yuan Xiaoyi, who translated Reveries of the Solitary Walker, shared her opinions on translation and her understanding of Rousseau’s works.
Reveries of the Solitary Walker is among the best prose in France, she said.
“The Little Prince has been my favorite book since my middle school days, and now I am reading this book with my daughter,” said Professor Liu Yunhong.
Now, she hopes Chinese readers could enjoy this work of literature through her translation, she said.
Le Clézio said that he was very glad to recommend the series Translations of French Literary Classics, and he appreciated the great work of the translators of this series.
He quoted the Italian writer Umberto Eco as saying: “Classics are books which deserve re-reading and re-reading.”
“We should respect and love classics,” he said.
At the ceremony, Le Clézio read out loud a section of The Little Prince, about a pilot lost in the desert.
It was said that the audio recording of his reading will be kept on the website of Nanjing University Press, accessible to readers if they buy this publication and scan the QR code on the book.
The works in this series mark the starting point of romanticism, which is what contemporary Chinese literature needs, said Bi Feiyu, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize who was looking forward to more translations of French literature being included in this series.
Le Clézio will work with Xu Jun on the editing of this series so as to introduce more brilliant French literary works to Chinese readers.
Wang Lixing, senior editor of foreign literature, Jin Xinrong, president and chief editor of Nanjing University Press, and others related to this series also spoke of the conception and features of this series.
(Qi Qi & Wang Tian, NJU News Center; Qi Wanjun, Nanjing University Press)
