10/12/2024
Carnival of Words: Translating Xi Xi’s Poems and Novels
Last Friday, Jennifer Feeley visited Nose in the Books and shared her translation process and experience working with Xi Xi. She described the late renowned writer as playful both with words and as a person. Jennifer often sought Xi Xi’s input to understand her thoughts. She characterises Xi Xi’s works as light and simple, yet with a dark undertone and complexity.
Jennifer has translated several of Xi Xi’s works, including Mourning a Breast, Not Written Words: Selected Poetry of Xi Xi, and Carnival of Animals: Xi Xi’s Animal Poems.
Translating Xi Xi’s poems is challenging, as it is deeply tied to the Chinese language. Sometimes, her work reads better in Mandarin. Additionally, Xi Xi incorporates words from Japanese Kanji. To maximise the number of rhymes, Jennifer reads extensively. Although this is challenging, it is part of why she fell in love with Xi Xi’s writings and finds so much joy in translating them. She views translation as a form of creative art.
In the process of translating Mourning a Breast, Jennifer discussed the practical and business aspects of translation. It is difficult to classify the genre of the book, as it is based on Xi Xi’s personal experiences, which seem to be non-fiction, yet it is also fictionalised. Jennifer had to read numerous medical articles and learn about early Chinese culture. She finds it fascinating to see how Xi Xi incorporates Chinese culture into her work. For example, Xi Xi writes about monsters with missing or extra organs, and she viewed herself, with her breast removed, as a monster.
At the end of the session, our guest host Wong Yi shared her experience of adapting Xi Xi’s work into other genres, such as dance opera. Jennifer also hopes that more translators will work on rendering Xi Xi’s work into other languages.
Jennifer’s translations of Xi Xi’s works are available in our book collection. Feel free to register for a time slot to enjoy the intertwined magic of words crafted by Xi Xi and Jennifer.
Thanks again to Jennifer for sharing the creative process behind translating Xi Xi’s works, and to Wong Yi for hosting this event.
