Southwest Ethnic Literature of China in 〦nglish—speaking World

MARK Bender　HUANG Li

Abstract： Professor Huang Li conducted an interview with Professor Mark Bender of Ohio University in 2013. Their discussion focuses on the translation and propagation of the ethnic literature of Southwest China in the English-speaking world.

In the United States， the popular literary works by Chinese ethnic authors mainly are poems and fiction. The fiction illustrates many cultural elements of the ethnic minorities. The poems are usually very short and are easily memorized. Nowadays Mark and his research group focus on the poets of Southwest China because the poets are very active， and they have created many world famous poems which enables readers to have a good sense of the poetic tradition in Southwest China.

Mark has translated some poems of the Yi People， especially the poems of Akuwuwu， a poet who writes in both the Yi language and Chinese. Mark tells us many things about his translations of Yi poems. He has been translating Akuwuwu because he is one of the few Yi poets who can write in the Yi language， and through his poems readers can learn a lot about the culture of the Yi.It is hard work to translate poems written in the Yi languages， because few American scholars understand the language. So， they have brought a group of scholars to do the translations together， Americans， Han and Yi.In order to do better translations， every year， Mark and his students go to Liangshan to conduct interviews with some Yi people. They even attend the religious ceremonies of the Yi.In this way， they can understand Yi traditions and the connotations in Akuwuwus poems. Mark thinks it is necessary for translators to understand the essences of the poems as well as the culture expressed in the poems. Mark emphasizes that he takes it as “hard fun” because he likes the cultural elements in Akuwuwus poems， elements such as Yi religious ceremonies， costume and even the Yi words， which are the basis for good translation.

When translating poems， it is very difficult to keep both the imaginative spaces of the poems and the cultural connotations expressed by the poets. Most American readers know little about Yi culture. So， how can we make the translations understood by these readers？ Mark thinks readers cannot be so relaxed in their study， and they should work hard to understand the poems better. They must read the long notes by the translators in order to understand the culture and traditions of the Yi. In the United States， the readers of Chinese ethnic literature mainly are professors and students in universities， and they are qualified to look up some references in order to understand the works. But， we cannot hope to have a large number of readers of Chinese ethnic poems， and more than two thousand is a large number. Only those readers taking these poems as research topics or university courses will read these works. Few American scholars can read Chinese， so they can only read the translations in order to know more about Chinese ethnic literature. Mark thinks that all translators should know the needs of their anticipated readers， and that their translations should satisfy the readers.

In the translation of Akuwuwus poems， Mark kept some Yi language words. He feels that the pronunciation of these words is so beautiful that readers will be impressed by them.He adopted the use of some English words which imitate the rhymes of the poems in order to maintain the rhymes and musicality of the original in the translations. The readers have sensed the beauty of these translations， and they like them. When they are doing the translations， poems in the Yi language and in English will be read together to imitate the rhymes and musicality of the original.And this has been proven to be a good way to do the translation. This is because the readers enjoy themselves during the reading， and they gave Mark a lot of advice in translating. Its not easy for American scholars to translate Chinese literature， especially because nowadays Chinese authors have produced so many literary works， and its impossible for only a few individuals to translate them into English. So， we need cooperation， we need groups to do the translation together.

In the United States more and more scholars have begun to read and do research on Chinese ethnic authors； Alai and Jidimajia are the ones they study more. Mark says that the journal，China Literature Today had some theses about Chinese ethnic authors works. He wrote a paper which made a comparison between Akuwuwu and Simon Pokagon，a Native American Indian author.The opinions of the Native Indian author can give us some insight on Yi authors writings. In addition，Victor Mair and he have cooperated to publish a book concerning Chinese folk literature， the Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature. In this book， Chinese folk stories， both those of the Han，as well as ethnic folk and popular stories， are put together as a whole. Ethnic folk literature is a significant part of Chinese literature. This book is used by some universities as textbook for Chinese folk literature courses， and it is helpful for the university students to know something about the ethnic culture of China. Mark even mentions that once they had a discussion on the popularization of Chinese ethnic poems among American readers， and they thought most important were the translations and introductions by the scholars.

Professor Mark also emphasizes the necessity for the ethnic scholars to construct literary theories of their own. Native American Indian groups in the United States are doing this research now， and it is possible for the Chinese ethnic scholars to do this work. They are familiar with western contemporary literary theories， so they can borrow something from the western theories to combine them with their own traditional ones. In this way， they can construct their own theories to do research on their own literary works. It is a good way for them to protect their own culture and languages. Translations of foreign theories can be a good beginning for these experiments.

Mark also points out that nowadays many Chinese ethnic authors use Chinese to create their works. He thinks that this is a good phenomenon. This is because language is a tool， and in order to meet the needs of the readers， it is necessary for the ethnic authors to study Chinese. They can use both their mother tongues and Chinese to write. At the end of the interview， Mark mentioned that our world is developing so fast and changing so fast， we find many inventions every day. So in such a society， we can adopt new equipment and technologies to protect our literary works， especially the folk literature of every nation.

Key Words： Mark Bender； Southwest ethnic literature of China； interview