Chinese Literature is Coming to Germany

Chinese culture is no longer a closed book to Germans. The number of students studying Chinese is increasing and more and more members of the general public are showing an interest in China.

Chinese films are popular, as are martial arts and Chinese food. But what about literature? Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse or even Patrick Süßkind are all well-known in China but can German readers cite a Chinese writer?

”Someone who has written a Chinese book? Don’t know,” answers one man in a pedestrian zone.

Another shopper does not appear more knowledgeable: ”A Chinese writer? I know some Japanese cartoonists – but that’s it.”

This man can at least name a famous Chinese person: “Yes, Confucius was also an author, wasn’t he?”

Chinese literature remains exotic and little known

How about the first and only Chinese Nobel Prize winner for literature? “I don’t know,” says the man. “Couldn’t tell you…,” says another.

Gao Xingjian, who won the Nobel Prize in 2000, remains a stranger to many -- not like his compatriots, the actress Gong Li and the martial arts fighters, such as Bruce Lee, whose faces are well-known.

Hans-Peter Hoffmann translates Chinese books into German and also lectures on Chinese literature at the University of Tübingen: “All in all, I think that Chinese literature, more than Asian literature in general, – there are differences – is still considered as pretty exotic on the literature scene in Germany,” he says.

Fiction overshadowed by recipes and calligraphy

There are plenty of books about China on the German market -- ranging from manuals on Chinese business rules, to guides on how to invest in the country, to cookbooks and calligraphy manuals but not that much Chinese fiction.

It is not only a question of language, says Hans-Peter Hoffmann who read Gao Xingjian’s novel “Soul Mountain” with his students and recalls the difficulties: “My students faced a lot of problems because there are allusions to Chinese tradition and also to contemporary issues, from today and from the 1950s.”

“It was hard for the students to understand the various references because it is a novel that takes place in our time but also looks at issues from the past.”

The chance for Chinese literature to make its mark

This autumn in Frankfurt, Chinese literature has the chance to reach a wider international readership. The works of many authors have been translated into German in preparation for the book fair.

But Hoffmann does not think that the fair will create a Chinese literature boom: “I recently spoke to a publisher who has published China-related books over the past 10 to 15 years,” he says.

“He complained that in the past 20 years no-one had been interested in them. Neither the press nor anyone else had noticed them. But now all of a sudden everyone is talking about it and interested. I am afraid that when the book fair is over the interest in Chinese literature will also be over.”

Nonetheless, 120 German publishing houses have announced new China-related releases this year, including over 40 novels, and maybe Gao Xingjian will not be a stranger to German readers for much longer.

Author: Chi Viet Giang
Editor: Anne Thomas