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　　The surprise announcement last week that Chinese novelist Mo Yan had won this year's Nobel Prize in literature has focused unprecedented global attention on Chinese literature. 'Tao Te-Ching' and 'Art of War' notwithstanding, books from the world's most populous country have tended to get meager play in the Western press. Luckily, that hasn't kept publishers from commissioning translations of some of China's best-loved works。

　　当中国小说家莫言意外荣获2012年诺贝尔文学奖时，中国文学界也随之受到了前所未有的关注。虽然这个人口大国出了像《道德经》和《孙子兵法》这样的名著，但中国书籍在西方出版界的表现仍乏善可陈。幸运的是，西方出版商并未因此而放弃对一些最受喜爱的中国作品的翻译工作。

　　But with dozens of titles to choose from, where should the intrepid reader start?

　　但在众多的书籍中，尝鲜者该从哪本着手呢？

　　To answer that question, China Real Time turned to the editors of Pathlight, a literary magazine dedicated to translating new Chinese fiction and poetry jointly produced by the translation website Paper Republic and People's Literature Magazine. Below, Pathlight staff recommend four of their favorite Chinese books in translation, starting with one from the new Nobel winner:

　　为了回答这个问题，“中国实时报”栏目请教了《人民文学》(People's Literature Magazine)英文版杂志《路灯》(Pathlight)的编辑。《路灯》致力于翻译《人民文学》杂志与翻译网站Paper Republic联合出品的中国新小说与新诗歌。以下的五本中国书籍都由《路灯》工作人员力荐，第一本的作者是诺贝尔文学奖得主莫言。

《天堂蒜薹之歌》

　　(Garlic Ballads)

　　《天堂蒜薹之歌》

　　'Garlic Ballads,' Mo Yan

　　作者：莫言

　　Readers who want to get a taste of Mo Yan before they commit to reading a whole book may want to pick up 'Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh!, ' a collection of Mo's short stories, or check out Zhang Yimou's film version of the novel 'Red Sorghum.' For those who want to read a full-length novel, the Nobel committee's recommendation of ' The Garlic Ballads' as a first Mo Yan novel is a good place to start。

　　在埋头开始完整地阅读一部莫言的小说前，读者若想对其作品风格有所了解，他的短篇小说集《师傅越来越幽默》(Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh!)也许是一个不错的选择，或者去看看张艺谋根据莫言小说改编拍成的电影《红高粱》(Red Sorghum)。而对于那些热衷于长篇小说的读者而言，《天堂蒜薹之歌》是一个很好的选择。诺贝尔文学奖评委会就曾建议，阅读莫言应当从这部小说开始。

　　'The Garlic Ballads' opens with a quote attributed to Stalin -- though Mo admitted to making it up in the preface to the second edition of the novel -- that takes on new resonance in the light of recent criticisms of Mo for not being more outspoken in his support of imprisoned fellow Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo and other politically active writers:

　　《天堂蒜薹之歌》曾在卷首引用了一段斯大林语录──虽然莫言在第二版的前言中承认那段话是他自己杜撰的──但这仍引发了公众对他新一轮的批评。此前，莫言就曾因未替同是诺奖得主却身陷囹圄的刘晓波及其他异见作家大声疾呼、出言相助而受到指责。

　　Novelists are forever trying to distance themselves from politics, but the novel itself closes in on politics. Novelists are so concerned with 'man's fate' that they tend to lose sight of their own fate. Therein lies their tragedy。

　　一直以来，小说家都试图与政治保持距离，但小说本身却永远无法脱离政治而单独存在。小说家都极度关注人类的命运以至常常忽略了自己的命运，他们的悲剧也因此而生。

　　'The Garlic Ballads' has as its backdrop the story -- based on real events in 1987 -- of poor farmers who storm the county government offices in protest over extortionate taxes, tolls, and fees after their garlic crops, planted at the urging of the local government, rot, unsold, in the fields. The novel begins with the arrest and beating of Gao Yang, one of the leaders of the protest, in front of his blind daughter, then cuts to the doomed lovers Gao Ma and Fang Jinju as they attempt to resist Jinju's betrothal to an older man in an illegal arranged marriage。

　　《天堂蒜薹之歌》取材于1987年发生的真实事件：贫困的农民响应当地政府的号召大量种植蒜薹，结果蒜薹滞销、烂在地里。农民因此冲击了县政府办公室，抗议过高的税费、过路费及规费。这部小说一开始就描绘了抗议活动领导者之一的高羊被逮捕、被拷打的情景。而这一切，都发生在他瞎眼的女儿面前。接着，作者笔锋一转、切换场景，讲述了一对注定永诀的恋人──高马和方金菊──与非法包办婚姻抗争的故事(金菊在这桩婚约中被许配给一位比她年长许多的男人)。

　　Like many of Mo's longer novels, 'The Garlic Ballads' combines gritty realism with surreal imagery, depicts the venal cruelty of official power, and presents personal tragedy in the context of the long, slow-motion tragedy of history。

　　就像莫言其他的长篇小说一样，《天堂蒜薹之歌》将活生生的现实与超现实的意象融为一体，描绘了官僚权势的贪赃枉法之为与农民个体的悲凉窘迫之态，并将其置于长期渐变的历史悲剧大背景中。

《丁庄梦》

　　(Dream of Ding Village)

　　《丁庄梦》

　　'Dream of Ding Village,' Yan Lianke

　　作者：阎连科

　　Although a work of fiction, ' Dream of Ding Village' is based on the very real 'blood boom,' a phenomenon of the last 20 years that has led to the spread of HIV among Chinese villagers because of the selling of contaminated blood. Yan Lianke zooms in on individual stories such as the ex-mayor of Ding Village, cajoled into selling blood by blood merchant Ding Hui, even as his energy for his job toiling the fields wanes by the moment。

　　《丁庄梦》虽然是一部文学作品，但它却架构在真实的“卖血潮”之上。“卖血潮”风行于过去的二十年间，由于很多人在卖血过程中接触了受感染的血液，致使艾滋病在中国农村蔓延开来。阎连科在小说中将个体的故事放大：丁村前任村长在血头丁辉的哄骗下踏上了卖血之路，即便那时他连在田间劳作的力气都已消失殆尽，也依旧在卖血。

　　Though Yan writes emotions as if they're one shade and paints death and suffering with large brush-strokes, 'Dream of Ding Village' is an extremely readable tale with observations in Yan's famous satirical style. He's positively effusive on the absurdities of modern rural China and the novel is resplendent in details such as peasants, who have probably never set foot outside of Ding Village, being buried in coffins carved with scenes 'depicting famous landmarks: Beijing's Tiananmen Square, Shanghai Oriental Pearl television tower, Guangzhou's high-rise hotels, and various bustling commercial districts, department stores, susn bridges, fountains, parks and public squares.'

　　虽然阎连科在写作表达情感时用的好像是同一种腔调、且常常用恢弘的笔触描绘死亡与苦难，但《丁庄梦》这部小说却因以著名的“阎式”嘲讽口吻洞察人情而可读性极强。他对现代中国农村地区愚谬生活的刻画绝对不吝笔墨且饱蘸深情。这部小说也因此类细节而出彩，比如，那些可能一辈子都没有走出过丁村的农民，却在离世时躺在了刻有繁华胜景图的棺材里：“是大城市的胜景图。如北京的天安门，上海的电视塔，广州的大宾馆，还有哪些大城市的商业街，繁华道，跨江桥、百货楼、喷泉池，这些等等的，七七八八的。”

　　Yan's homage is the more touching as the HIV/AIDS crisis has affected mostly those from his birth province of Henan. The brutal story is smoothly translated by Cindy Carter, whose rendering is practiced, always to the point, and poetic at times. (Full disclosure: Ms. Carter is a co-founder of Paper Republic。

　　当艾滋病潮席卷阎连科的出生地河南省、并广泛地影响了生活在这片土地上的父老乡亲时，他的这部致敬之作就更令人动容。这个冷峻残酷的故事由辛迪？卡特(Cindy Carter)翻译，她的笔触流畅、文风老练，切中主旨要害且常常直指人心，字里行间有时还透着诗意。(辛迪？卡特是Paper Republic联合创始人之一。)

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