"Bonnie McDougall’s stellar career as a scholar and translator of modern and contemporary Chinese literature has taken her from Australia to China, and also to Europe and the United States. In this lively memoir, which I have read with pleasure, she looks back on her early training and her experiences in these places. Readers will especially be interested in her accounts of her contacts with Beijing’s young poets of the 1980s when she was employed by the Foreign Languages Press. Her account of her problematical relations with her editors and publishers is very informative too. Scholars of translation studies will appreciate her personal views on some thorny issues in the translation from Chinese, and students of modern and contemporary Chinese literature will also want to read this book to benefit from her insights and advice." —Wilt L. Idema, Harvard University
"Professor Bonnie S. McDougall is one of the most distinguished and distinctive voices in the study of modern Chinese literature. As a practical translator of Chinese literature, she has made some monumental contributions, including being the first person to introduce the work of Bei Dao to the English-reading world and bringing about a full translation of Dung Kai-cheung’s widely acclaimed work Atlas. As a scholar who thinks and writes about translation in all its aspects, she is uniquely perceptive and unrivaled in her ability to describe and analyze all that is involved in bringing translations of Chinese literature to the reading public. In this book, she looks back on her very rich career as a translator, blending it with a biography of her academic career across four continents. Her personal experiences in Maoist China and early Reform-era China, her dealings with various British, American, and Hong Kong publishers, and especially her ongoing musings about the best ways to translate specific words, names, or titles are truly fascinating and will also be eye-opening for any readers who believe that translation is a straightforward task. Readers will also appreciate the ironically self-deprecating manner in which she reminisces on her own efforts to constantly improve as a translator, and they will be grateful to learn about the many ways in which she has advocated for better acknowledgment and compensation of translators." —Michel Hockx, University of Notre Dame
"Bonnie S. McDougall’s Translation Stories from Modern China is part memoir, part literary history, and part practical guide to the art and craft (as well as the travails and pleasures) of translating modern Chinese literature by an important pioneer and highly versatile figure in the field. Ranging over time, place, authors and their texts, this book offers readers engaging glimpses into the contexts, choices, cultural sensitivities, and sheer hard work that have shaped her impressive international career as a translator and scholar." —C. D. Alison Bailey, University of British Columbia
