Taiwanese novel Banana King Ngoo Tsin-Sui (蕉王吳振瑞) by Lee Wang-tai (李旺台) has drawn the attention of international literary critics, entering consideration for two separate awards.
The novel, translated by Timothy Smith, who is also a translator for the Taipei Times, was placed as the finalist in last year’s Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards for the Multicultural and Historical categories, and has been longlisted for the PEN Translation Prize.
Finalists for the PEN Translation Prize are to be announced before May 8, the day of the Literary Awards Ceremony in New York.
Photo courtesy of the Hakka Affairs Council
Lee said he wanted to accurately portray Taiwan and its people in his novels, and was delighted that his works would allow foreigners to better understand the country.
“I hope Banana King would advance to the final stage and beyond, and continue to move and draw in more international readers to learn about Taiwan and its history, tragedies and triumphs,” Smith said.
The novel’s message on authoritarianism and machinations of “malicious actors” is “pertinent and timely,” providing readers with food for thought on the current social and political developments around the world, as well as how fairness, justice and social uplifting are defined, he said.
The novel’s portrayal of the protagonist and his acquaintances’ resourcefulness highlights the tenacity and perseverance of all Taiwanese, he added.
Smith said part of the challenge in translating the book was the rendition of the original work’s use of Hoklo, commonly known as Taiwanese, alongside portions in Japanese and Hakka, maintaining characters’ perspectives and voices through their own language as they would have spoken it rather than through Chinese alone.
Smith expressed discomfort at “conceal[ing] or pav[ing] over these voices by only using Chinese,” adding that these elements tied into scenes depicted in the novel’s second part of “Chinese-language teachers and their [parochial] attitudes toward multicultural Taiwanese, and Taiwanese national identity and affinity.”
The historical novel is based on the story of Ngoo Tsin-sui (吳振瑞), who created a successful banana-based business that at one point provided the majority of Japan’s banana imports, but was later accused of corruption and jailed after becoming embroiled in political disputes.
Ngoo later received a private apology from government representatives.
While approached by others who sought to right a historical wrong, Ngoo chose to let the past stay behind him, spending his last years in Japan.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS