I loathe reason. Reason is the sort of rubbish you can indulge in when life is sweet, like love and honour. I totally reject it.

In the sixty first episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction we are opening The Book of Sins (冒犯书 / Màofàn Shū), by edgelord-with-a-conscience Chen Xiwo. Playing common-sense counterpoint to my doom-laden interpretations of the text is its translator, Nicky Harman. Here’s what we deal with: pain, incest, and the political uses of shock, horror, and offensiveness. Are you sure about this? You can delete this episode now. Do you choose to hit play?

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// NEWS ITEMS //

The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet by Bogna Konoir - applies Liu Cixin’s logic to cyberspace
Sense of Place - new issue of Pathlight Magazine
Gei Fei’s Peach Blossom Paradise bags spot in translated literature finalist list for US 2021 National Book Awards
TOR announces full contents of The Way Spring Arrives

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// WORD OF THE DAY //

(痛 - tòng - pain)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

Chen Xiwo’s speech on literary censorship in the PRC, given at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club in 2010
A Banned Take on Contemporary China: Wall Street Journal review of The Book of Sins
Lit by Mary Karr, a considerably more functional individual
Playing for Thrills … 1988: I Want to Talk with the World … Dancing Through Red Dust … Shanghai Baby … A Perfect Crime

Ep 61 - Chen Xiwo and The Book of Sins with Nicky Harman

The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast

Ep 61 - Chen Xiwo and The Book of Sins with Nicky Harman