Author: Columbia University Press

Columbia University Press seeks to enhance Columbia University’s educational and research mission by publishing outstanding original works by scholars and other intellectuals that contribute to an understanding of global human concerns. The Press also reflects the importance of its location in New York City in its publishing programs. Through book, reference, electronic publishing, and distribution services, the Press broadens the university’s international reputation. Visit us at cup.columbia.edu

September 29, 2022

The Multifaceted Advice of the Zhuangzi

Richard John Lynn

This translation is “new” in that it differs significantly from previous translations since it is based on one particular traditional Chinese commentary, the earliest complete philosophical commentary by Guo Xiang 郭象 (265–312). The translation technique is also “new” in that...

September 27, 2022

Interpreting the Nuances of Historical Texts

David Brophy

In the wake of the Qianlong emperor’s invasion of Xinjiang in the mid-eighteenth century, Qing-appointed Muslim governors preserved certain trappings of Islamic rule while serving alongside a rotation of Manchu and Mongolian ambans. In the 1780s, one of the local...

September 22, 2022

Becoming Vermin

Perhat Tursun as a Franz Kafka Character

Darren Byler

The imprisoned Uyghur author and poet Perhat Tursun hates it when people call him “the Uyghur Franz Kafka.” He thinks Uyghur writers should be recognized as world-class intellectuals on their own terms, not as derivative world literature representatives of a...

September 20, 2022

“Researching” for Translation

Anders Hansson and Bonnie McDougall

A few months ago, Bonnie received a request from the research administration at her university to submit information on any recent publications. She duly let them know about our translation of A Catalog of Such Stuff as Dreams are Made...

September 15, 2022

The Power of Female Same-Sex Love

Stephen Roddy and Ying Wang

In premodern China, descriptions of homoeroticism can be found in multiple examples of histories, poetry, fiction, and drama, but nearly all of these treat exclusively male-male relations. On female same-sex desire, the written record is almost completely silent. The few...

September 13, 2022

Translating a Narcissist: The Italian Invert’s Companion

Nancy Erber

The Italian invert and I have a history together. I first came across his story under the title “Roman d’un inverti” in the 1980s in a hot and stuffy Paris library as I was scrolling through the Archives d’Anthropologie criminelle,...

September 8, 2022

Q&A: Giuseppe Caruso on The Botany of Beer

Pour a pint, and read about its incredible plant origins. Giuseppe Caruso’s The Botany of Beer: An Illustrated Guide to More Than 500 Plants Used in Brewing provides a lovely look into the raw materials that can spice up your...

September 6, 2022

Tommy, Helen, Frank, and Me

S. R. Gilbert

It was as inconceivable to Helen Lowe that she address her author as “Tommy” as it would be for me to open an email with “Cher Frank.” Without question, those writers whose work undergoes translation during their lifetimes must endure...

September 2, 2022

Announcing Our 2022-2023 Politics and International Affairs Catalog

Letter from the editors: We are proud to present this year’s selection of titles in political science, international relations, and political theory. Our American politics list is split between domestic politics and American foreign relations, but both lists consider issues...

September 1, 2022

National Translation Month 2022! A Journey Through Time and Place

Claire Brown

Welcome to our annual celebration of National Translation Month 2022! Ten years ago, two incredible women, author and journalist Loren Kleinman and poet and translator Claudia Serea, founded National Translation Month. Understanding language as an essential instrument for expressing the...