The editor-in-chief said| Huang Yuning, editor-in-chief of Foreign Literature and Art: What remains unchanged is the tradition of seeking change

The editor-in-chief said

Huang Yuning, born in Shanghai, is the deputy editor-in-chief of Shanghai Translation Publishing House, the vice president of Shanghai Translators Association, and the editor-in-chief of Foreign Literature and Art. In addition to his job, he also engages in literary translation and writing. He has translated nearly three million words, including "Sweet Teeth", "Chasing the Sun", and "On the Chesel Beach". He is the author of the essay review collection "A Woman Thinks, God Is Crazy", "A Man's Castle", "Dreaming of Schubert's Dog" and so on. He began fiction writing in 2015, published his first collection of short stories, "Eight and a Half Novellas", in August 2018, and won the first prize of the Blancpain Ideal Republic Literary Award in 2019.

What remains unchanged is the tradition of seeking change

Huang Yuning

Since its inaugural issue in the summer of 1978, openness and avant-garde consciousness have been the banner of Foreign Literature and Art. At that time, Mr. Tang Yongkuan, the editor-in-chief, proposed: "Such a journal that introduces foreign literature must mainly introduce contemporary and modern literature in various countries in the world, introduce representative literary genres and genres of writers and works, and provide readers with the ideological trends and dynamics of the literary circles of various countries." "For more than four decades, the most mentioned of this magazine is the Chinese writer who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. On their bookshelves, in their growth trajectory, you can see the shadow of this magazine from time to time.

Therefore, the purpose of foreign literature and art has always contained a strong sense of local cultural responsibility: the proposition of opening up international horizons for Chinese readers, especially those who are engaged in or interested in writing, and creating a ladder into the world context has never been outdated. It can even be said that in a country that is increasingly eager to tell local stories, in an era when the ideas and techniques of creative writing and non-fiction writing are increasingly valued, this proposition has a richer and deeper connotation than in the last century.

Looking back on 2021, I am slightly relieved that no matter how the external environment changes, this open attitude is always implemented by Foreign Literature and Art. Building on the broadening of the advisory board and editorial board in 2020, we strive to radiate the languages and categories involved to a wider level. In particular, through the perspectives of Chinese literature, art and non-fiction that have been newly added in recent years, we hope to carry forward the tradition of the magazine and point to a more diversified future.

From 2020 onwards, Foreign Literature and Art has added columns such as "New Knowledge" and "Novel Lessons". In 2021, they are all becoming more and more mature.

"New knowledge" is the main "new" word, the first time to take stock of the dynamics of foreign literary circles, not satisfied with listing fresh information, but also want to open the veil on the surface of the information, hoping to help readers peek into its deep logic, explore the origin, influence and trend. In 2021, "New Knowledge" traces the little-known stories behind and behind the Booker Prize and Pulitzer Prize, showing the plight of the foreign book industry and the increasingly polarized public opinion climate, and capturing the impact of social backgrounds and trends such as Brexit, "OK Boomer", and consumerism on literary creation. It must be pointed out that the reason why "New Knowledge" can be established is that the main writer of the column, Sheng Yun, is vivid and sharp, laughing and angry, and his way of telling is indispensable.

The "Novel Lesson" column is inspired by the "Paris Review • Short Story Class", which adopts the form of "novel + review" in the book, taking a foreign short story or a long excerpt with characteristics and attitude as a sample, inviting Chinese novelists to cut into the analysis from the perspective of creative technology, not seeking to be comprehensive, but seeking to be different. This year's "Novel Class" of local writers includes Wen Zhen, Dian, Chen Yufan, etc., and the review text of "On the Other Side" comes from Susan Choi, Miyamoto Hui, Prasad... These works cover different languages such as American, Japanese, Western, korean and other languages, and have their own characteristics and ingenuity in creation. Most of the comments we receive are short and flexible, not only exploring the wonderful nature of the text, but also unceremoniously pointing out flaws, dissecting the mechanism, rhetoric, rhythm, and construction of the short story. For example, Miyamoto's "Burning The Boat" tells about the relationship between men and women who are about to die, and the image "boat" that runs through the whole text is constantly changing its position like a ghost, and finally it is burned. The silent and simple narration of the water and the ethereal "boat" imagery do pose a challenge to traditional readers who are accustomed to asking what the purpose of such writing is. Writer Diane starts from his own creative experience and discusses with us the different requirements of long and short stories for authors. She writes: "Writing long stories is the process of dealing with the real world, and short stories are parts of your mind that are 'delusional', 'hallucinatory' or even 'subconscious'", requiring high narrative efficiency and unique extensions. 'Burning the boat' has no special meaning, it is a ritual, it is a memorial, just a finishing touch to one's inner fantasies. In many cases, seemingly profound metaphors have no particular implications. How such metaphors relate to the object of description may not be clear to the author himself, but when these metaphors are put together with the story, they produce a wonderful chemistry, nothing more. Therefore, enjoy the most primitive pleasure of reading. This is probably the most natural flow and wonder in the writer's creative process. In addition to providing reading references for ordinary readers, this column may also help to open up a new path for reading, from reader thinking to author thinking - this step is very critical for those who are interested in writing. Even, in time, the accumulation of small amounts, "novel class" may be equivalent to opening up a class for Chinese writers to evaluate the current trend of world literature and discuss creative writing techniques, accumulating a thick and innovative classroom lecture notes.

In the fifth issue of 2021, Foreign Literature and Art has added a new "Art Scene" column to focus on important art exhibitions at present and realize the interaction between offline exhibitions and text interpretation. Unique geographical location and historical factors make "openness, innovation and inclusiveness" deeply rooted in Shanghai's urban character. Since its opening, Shanghai has become the forefront of the collision of Chinese and Western cultures. The editorial office is based in Shanghai, naturally near the water. In the first article of this column, the main writer BTR led readers to the scene of the 13th Shanghai Biennale, focusing on several of the works, discussing the main aspects of the biennale, and feeling the multiple artistic presentations with water as the theme and reflecting on the connection between man and nature.

In the selection of works, we continue to focus on the current literary award works, topical works and new works of classic writers, as well as the new generation of writers with potential, as well as the "non-mainstream" literature that has not yet attracted the attention of the Chinese literary circles. Louise Glick, Hilary Mantel, Susan Tri, Alejo Carpentier, Augusto Monterosso, Ida Vitale, Miyamoto, Yoko Ogawa, Kim Jin-wook, Choi Eun-young, Kang Ho-gi, Ander Weber, Peter Handek, Valeria Luiseli, John Viswell, David Diop... They come from France, Germany, the United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Austria, Greece and other countries, with both familiar names and fresh faces, and they enrich our literary horizons with their own distinct styles.

Each issue of "Foreign Literature and Art" cooperates with the theme of the current work, and invites scholars and critics at home and abroad to write interpretation articles. Focus on the first issue of the Literary Award, there is a short list of Booker Prizes written by Professor Guo Guoliang, talking about the preferences and characteristics of the Booker Prize; the second issue containing important Writers of Central America such as Monterosso and Dalio, there is a new scholar Zhang Tingting talking about contemporary Literature in Central America, showing the literary characteristics under the shadow of violence; in the sixth issue of science fiction literature, scholar Song Mingwei commented on the history and trend of science fiction literature and put forward a new view of "science fiction as a method"... In addition, we also fought for valuable resources, exclusive interviews with international Booker Prize winner Reinerfeld and Dutch contemporary literary giant Glennberg, in the first scene to directly attack the creative world of writers, Mr. Glenborg also recorded videos for our readers, talking about his creative ideas and history.

Foreign Literature and Art has always attached great importance to copyright norms and insisted on the copyright attribution of each article – as far as I know, this concept is rare in similar journals in China. Affected by the epidemic, many foreign institutions have not yet resumed normal work, so copyright communication has encountered great difficulties. The editorial board immediately adjusted the pace of communication and looked for various possible channels to promote the smooth progress of copyright work. After hard work, a number of good works have appeared in China for the first time, including the new work "Flashlight" by Susan Cui, winner of the American National Chart Award, the German Book Award work "Annette, an Epic of Heroines" (excerpt), the recent short stories of the new generation of Korean writers Bae Xiaoya, Choi Eun-young, Kang Ho-ji, and Lin Li'er, the long excerpts of Glennberg, one of the three giants of the Dutch contemporary literary world, the short short short work "Missing a Bed" by 2021 Nebula Award winner John Weiswell, and so on. At the same time, the magazine also actively communicates with literary associations and foundations of various countries to establish and maintain long-term cooperation. Based on such efforts, this year we have received strong support from the Dutch Literature Foundation and the Korean Culture Translation Institute, and many outstanding writers have been translated to China for the first time.

In addition to in-depth cultivation of content, the magazine also relies on rich consultants and editorial resources to undertake the "Translation" Cup Translation Competition and the first "Annual Selection of Translations". The "Shangyi" Cup Translation Competition has been held for 18 years, with the intention of excavating and cultivating outstanding translation talents. Many of the previous winners have become industry leaders and are active in the field of literary translation. The "Annual Selection of Translations" is based on the first translation works of foreign literature published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House in that year, aiming to explore the direction and interpretation standards for reading, translation and publication. The inaugural Annual Selection of Translations award was won by The History of Modern Literary Criticism (by Reiner Wellek and translated by Yang Ziwu).

Regarding the special significance of the "Annual Selection of Translations" in the current cultural context, Li Jingze, one of the members of the jury and vice chairman of the China Writers Association, summed it up meaningfully, and this passage can also fully represent the position and purpose of our publication of "Foreign Literature and Art" today:

"[The Annual Selection] is not only to praise translators, to reaffirm and establish the ethics of translation, to explore and establish standards for translation, but also to think about the way we connect with the world." Translation has been part of Chinese literature since modern times, and its meaning is by no means 'for reference only', but it is itself involved in the construction of modern Chinese. In this sense, translation is particularly important to our literature, and I especially hope to be able to read strange things in translation, to read the tension of language. In the past, literature such as 'Lu Guo MaoBa Lao Cao' was almost always a translator, and their translation was often out of a conscious choice, but today's translation is still closely related to 'how we see the world' and 'how we construct the world'. In today's complex changes, translation plays an important role in how Chinese people respond, adjust their sense of self, and how they see our relationship with the world. Translation is certainly a technology, a business choice, but it should also be an important cultural choice that should help to improve our sense of the world. ”

At the beginning of the founding of the journal, in the era when everyone could not wait to open their horizons, "Foreign Literature and Art" introduced a large number of writers who were strange and magical to Chinese readers, such as Nabokov, Sartre, Llosa, Borges, McCullers, etc., and suddenly opened the door to the vast literary world, becoming a path for many readers to understand the world, and also playing a certain role in promoting and enlightening Chinese literary creation. Nowadays, the world is changing rapidly, fresh information and technology are often caught off guard, and all kinds of ideological trends are surging forward, and whenever we think about where to go next, we often find that the answer is buried in the original heart of that year. The original intention does not change, and the future can be expected. What never changes is the tradition of seeking change.