Category: Asian Literature

August 1, 2021

Women in Translation Month 2021! A Journey from East to West

By Olivia Treynor

Welcome to Women in Translation Month 2021! Seven years ago, blogger and academic Meytal Radzinski took a critical look at the publishing landscape and noticed that the world of translated literature was heavily male-dominated. Reflecting on this gender disparity and...

May 13, 2021

Q&A: Minae Mizumura on An I-Novel

Minae Mizumura is one of Japan’s most respected novelists. Published in 1995, her An I-Novel— a semi-autobiographical work that takes place over the course of a single day in the 1980s—radically broke with Japanese literary tradition. In this Q&A, Mizumura...

January 7, 2021

Announcing Our 2021 Literary Studies Catalog

Letter from the Editors: We are pleased to present the 2021 Columbia University Press literary studies catalog. The past year was a challenging one on many fronts and we hope the books in this catalog reflect the various ways in...

January 7, 2021

Browse Our MLA Virtual Book Exhibit with Philip Leventhal

Welcome to the Columbia University Press virtual exhibit for the MLA conference. I am Philip Leventhal, editor for literary studies, and while it is disappointing not to have the opportunity to see everyone in person at MLA this year, I...

November 17, 2020

New Book Tuesday! Bookishness, Redlining Culture, and More!

Our weekly list of new books is now available! From the Literature Now series Bookishness Loving Books in a Digital Age Jessica Pressman In Bookishness, Jessica Pressman examines the new status of the book as object and symbol. She explores the...

September 30, 2020

Introducing the Hong Kong Literature Series!

From the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

In this video, series editor John Minford introduces the Hong Kong Literature Series and speaks to how this collection reveals the hidden depths of Hong Kong’s soul. The series is published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. Now...

September 15, 2020

George Kallander on Na Man’gap’s The Diary of 1636

“The Diary of 1636 is a fascinating firsthand description of the turmoil and difficulties in Chosŏn Korea during the second Manchu invasion. George Kallander’s engaging and highly readable translation provides an understanding of the Chosŏn response to the invasions, internal power struggles,...

September 8, 2020

The Unprecedented 1827 Osaka Incident

By Kate Wildman Nakai, Mark Teeuwen, and Fumiko Miyazaki

“Christian Sorcerers on Trial is a model of consummate scholarship and at the same time a gripping narrative which will be of great interest not just to students of Japanese religion and history, but to anyone curious about Japan in the...

September 3, 2020

Van C. Gessel on Endō Shūsaku’s Sachiko

“An extraordinary novel by one of Japan’s literary masters, Sachiko is a testament to shared experiences, cruelty, loss, and the persistence of love and faith.” ~Foreword Reviews, starred review September is National Translation Month. Today, we present a guest post...

September 1, 2020

Translation Month! Celebrating Works of Literature and History from Japan, Korea, and Russia

September is National Translation Month, and we’re ready to celebrate! This year’s featured books take us back to unsettling times in Japan, Korea, and Russia. Peruse the list and book excerpts below, and check back every Tuesday for a guest post....

August 27, 2020

Q&A: Ch’oe Yun and Chungmoo Choi on There a Petal Silently Falls

“Ch’oe is a versatile writer who cloaks stark perceptions of individual and social trauma with elegant craft, poignant metaphor, and occasional, sardonic flashes of humor.” ~Barbara Lloyd McMichael, Seattle Times We’re closing out Women in Translation Month with a Q&A...

August 20, 2020

Book Excerpt! “Out of the Laughing Woods,” by Vo Thi Hao

“Long awaited in English, these stories are beautiful, nuanced translations from the Vietnamese side of the America-Vietnam War. One of the best collections I have read from postwar Vietnam, the stories illuminate the country’s darkest period with humor, shock, and...