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DKU Intercultural Book Club

The DKU Intercultural Book Club is hosted by Austin Woerner in partnership with the Duke Kunshan University Library.

Each session the Book Club will choose one book to read in both English and Chinese. Read in whichever language you prefer and come ready to discuss your reactions to the book with other readers who may have experienced it in the other language!

昆杜跨文化读书会是由 Austin Woerner (温侯廷)与昆山杜克大学图书馆携手主持的一个文学社团。

每个月我们会选一本有中英文版的书,大家可以选自己喜欢的版本(中文版或英文版)然后一起分享各自的阅读心得。

DKU Intercultural Book Club

View book club events on Duke Kunshan Engage

 

Events



Cormac McCarthy, "All the Pretty Horses"
Apr
9
10:30 AM10:30

Cormac McCarthy, "All the Pretty Horses"

克马克 · 麦卡锡,《天下骏马》

Read it in English (Kindle)

➤ 中文版建议在孔夫子网买。淘宝上还有,但正版的比较贵。

When 16-year-old John Grady Cole loses the ranch that has been in his family for generations, he embarks on a journey on horseback south into Mexico. A modern cowboy story and one of the most famous novels by American author Cormac McCarthy.

Note: If you are not in China and wish to participate over Zoom, please let us know! Contact Austin Woerner over WeChat (WeChat ID: austinwoerner)

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Li Juan, "Winter Pasture"
Feb
5
10:30 AM10:30

Li Juan, "Winter Pasture"

李娟,《冬牧场》

➤ Read the English version (advance reader’s copy — ask Austin for a copy)

购买中文版(淘宝)

读中文电子版 (微信读书)

Li Juan, known for her nonfiction essays about the far western region of Xinjiang province where she grew up, accompanies a Kazakh herder family into the remote desert region where they spend the winter with their cattle.

Note: If you are not in China and wish to participate over Zoom, please let us know! Contact Austin Woerner over WeChat (WeChat ID: austinwoerner)

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Frank Herbert, Dune
Nov
20
10:30 AM10:30

Frank Herbert, Dune

弗兰克·赫伯特,《沙丘》

Buy the English version on Taobao

Read it on Kindle

购买中文版(淘宝)

(小提示:根据豆瓣上的粉丝讨论来看,由科幻世界出版的顾备译本大概是最准确易读的版本。点击上面的链接或者直接淘宝搜索“沙丘三部曲”,便可以看到这个版本的购买链接。买全套可能最划算,不过我们这次只讨论其中的第一部。)

One of the most famous science fiction novels of all time, Dune imagines a future in which interplanetary travel is made possible by the mind-enhancing spice melange, which is mined only on the harsh desert planet Arrakis. When political treachery befalls the family of Paul Atreides, the new governors of Arrakis, Paul must escape to live among the desert-dwelling Fremen and begin his quest to fulfill an age-old religious prophecy.

美国科幻巨匠弗兰克·赫伯特用笔创造了一个截然不同的世界——沙丘。这颗干旱的星球既是豪迈聪慧的亚崔迪家族的领地,也是冷酷剽悍的弗瑞曼人的故乡。在覆盖其地表的荒凉沙漠下,隐藏着巨大沙虫的巢穴,也埋藏着整个宇宙梦寐以求的珍宝——“香料”。少年保罗的父亲被银河皇帝封爵到了字宙中惟一出产香料的星球沙丘。但这只是亚崔迪家族死敌的诡计,他们想在这颗荒凉的星球上将亚崔迪家族赶尽杀绝。但是,如果少年保罗能够证明自己是沙丘传说中的能带领人们赢得自由的“天外纶音”,亚崔迪家族就还有一线生机……

Note: If you are not in China and wish to participate over Zoom, please let us know! Contact Austin Woerner over WeChat (WeChat ID: austinwoerner)

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Wang Xiaobo, Wang in Love and Bondage
Mar
22
8:30 AM08:30

Wang Xiaobo, Wang in Love and Bondage

王小波,《黄金时代》

Read it on Kindle

购买中文版(淘宝)

➤ 电子版可以在微信读书app上免费阅读

Acclaimed as one of the most important writers of twentieth-century China, the late Wang Xiaobo (1952-1997) is known for his frank, often antic treatment of sex and his gift for reveling in human absurdity and provoking laughter from horror. Comprised of three novellas, "The Golden Age," "East Palace, West Palace," and "2015," this book is the first English translation of his work.

Goodreads

以文革时期为背景的系列作品构成的长篇。名叫“王二”的男主人公处于荒谬的环境,遭到各种不公正待遇,但却摆脱了传统文化人的悲愤心态,创造出一种反抗和超越的方式:既然不能证明自己无辜,便倾向于证明自己不无辜。于是他以性爱作为对抗外部世界的最后据点,将性爱表现得既放浪形骸又纯粹。

——豆瓣

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Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
Jan
17
3:30 PM15:30

Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

谭恩美,《喜福会》

Buy it on Taobao (print)

Read it on Kindle

购买中文版 (淘宝)

读电子版(豆瓣阅读)

Four mothers, four daughters, four families, whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's telling the stories. In 1949, four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, meet weekly to play mahjong and tell stories of what they left behind in China. … Their daughters, who have never heard these stories, think their mothers' advice is irrelevant to their modern American lives—until their own inner crises reveal how much they've unknowingly inherited of their mothers' pasts.

Goodreads

《喜福会》是1989年美国四大畅销书之一,多次获奖并拍成电影。小说描写解放前夕从中国大陆移居美国的四位女性的生活波折,以及她们与美国出生的女儿之间的心理隔膜、感情冲撞、爱爱怨怨,令人感慨万千。

——豆瓣

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Arthur Waley, Monkey / excerpts from Journey to the West
Dec
6
3:30 PM15:30

Arthur Waley, Monkey / excerpts from Journey to the West

吴承恩,《西游记》节选

Champion: Undecided

Get it in English (print)

Read it on Kindle

Read “Dear Monkey” (further abridged children’s version of Monkey)

➤ 亚瑟·韦利的《Monkey》是《西游记》的删节本,想读中文版的朋友们可以只读原作的1-15回、18-19回、第22回、第37-39回、第44-49回和第98-100回,这些章节对应《Monkey》里面的内容。

Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West, one of China's four great classic novels, is a picaresque adventure that follows a monkey, a pig, an ogre, and a monk as they travel west seeking sacred Buddhist scriptures; Arthur Waley's abridged translation, Monkey, is considered one of the most entertaining and readable translations of a Chinese classic novel.  Since the Chinese original is extremely long, those who wish to read the Chinese version can just read the chapters that correspond to the ones Waley translated.

四大名著之一的《西游记》讲述了前往西天取经的奇幻冒险故事,英国汉学家亚瑟·伟利选译而成的Monkey一书被认作最具有可读性的中国经典名著译本之一。由于中文原著非常长,选择读中文版的同学可以只读被亚瑟·伟利选译的部分章节。

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Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five
Nov
8
3:30 PM15:30

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five

  • Blue Oasis, Dayu Bay (大渔湾 - 蓝色绿洲) (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

库尔特·冯内古特 ,《五号屠场》

Champion: Kevin Sprague

Get it in English (print)

Read it on Kindle

购买中文版 (推荐的译本:虞建华 )

Slaughterhouse Five is a wickedly funny satirical sci-fi novel with one of the most famous opening lines in English  literature. Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time, survives World War II, and spends time in an alien zoo. This is a classic must read from one of America's funniest novelists. —Kevin Sprague

《五号屠场》是一本奇特的充满了黑色幽默的反战科幻小说,有着英文文学中最为著名的开场白之一。主人公比利·皮尔格林困在了跳跃闪现的时间碎片之中,这使他从二战中幸存,但也使他去到了外星人的动物园。我认为《五号屠场》是最有趣的美国小说中必读的经典。——凯文

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Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Oct
11
3:30 PM15:30

Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

  • Block 4 Game Room, Student Residence Hall (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

村上春树,《挪威的森林》

Champion: Charlotte Jiang 蒋千蘅

Get it in English (print) Recommended translation: Jay Rubin

Read it on Kindle

购买中文版 (推荐的译本:林少华)

Watanabe is immersed in the sorrow of his best friend Kitsuki’s suicide, which brings him into contact with Naoko, Kitsuki’s girlfriend who is also bereft. Later Watanabe meets Mitoriko, a lively, cheerful girl whose personality is completely opposite Naoko's. Watanabe cannot decide between the two girls, and his loss and confusion force him to grow as a person. This book, one of Murakami's most famous works, tells a story of loneliness: how a man comes out of the shadow of the past and gains the courage to face a brand-new life. —Charlotte Jiang

好友木月的自杀让渡边沉没在痛苦之中,但也使渡边从此与同样感到痛苦的木月女友直子有了千丝万缕的联系。随后,木月又遇见了另一个女孩——绿子。开朗热烈的绿子如同直子的对立面。面对两个同样心爱的女孩,渡边苦闷彷徨,难以抉择,而正是这青春的迷失使渡边成长、成熟。村上春树的《挪威的森林》诉说了孤独:如何走出忧伤的过往,以摸索此后的人生。——蒋千蘅

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Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
Sep
6
3:30 PM15:30

Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

赫尔曼·黑塞,《悉达多》

Champion: Yolanda Ling 凌嘉阳

Get it in English (print) Recommended translation: Hilda Rosner

Read it on Kindle

购买中文版(推荐的译本:姜乙)

➤ 中文电子版可在微信读书上阅读

Siddhartha, the son of a venerable Brahman, leaves his home on a journey in pursuit of "atman" (the innermost part of oneself). His spiritual quest leads him to the river, where at last he learns to unite his two selves: the individual and subjective; and the sacred and eternal. This beautifully-written book was written by Hesse after World War I, and some people see it as the cure for the wounded heart of a people who went through war, encouraging them to face their true selves and seek the beauty in their lives. —Yolanda Ling

悉达多,高贵的婆罗门之子,离开家门踏上寻求“阿特曼(自我)”的旅程。灵性的追求指引他来到河边。生命之河,他的良师,无言地传递着真知。历经曲折,悉达多最终认识了他自己——他的两个“自我”:一个感性而有限,一个理性且无穷。这本语言优美的小书由德国作家黑塞写于一战后,抚慰了无数战后受创的心灵,启发着人们面对真实的自我并由此发掘生命之美。——凌嘉阳

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Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
Apr
12
3:30 PM15:30

Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories

芥川龙之介,《罗生门》(小说文集) 林少华 译

Champion: Rachel Tan

Buy it in English (Taobao)

Buy it as an ebook (Amazon)

购买中文版(淘宝)

读电子版(微信读书)

One's of Japan's early modernist writers and "father of the Japanese short story," his atmospheric short works include the story that was the basis of the movie Rashomon.  Rachel Tan, who nominated this book, writes: "His writing style is delicate... [and] melancholy, the feeling of a Japanese man who lived in the late Meiji period. His style is very uncanny and lonely." The English translation is by Jay Rubin, Haruki Murakami’s translator.

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Book Club Field Trip: Hao Jingfang @ Shanghai Lit Fest
Mar
23
12:00 PM12:00

Book Club Field Trip: Hao Jingfang @ Shanghai Lit Fest

Moderated by Austin Woerner

▶ Official event description

Hao Jingfang is one of China’s most celebrated younger science fiction authors. Her novella “Folding Beijing” won the 2016 Hugo Award, making her the second Chinese author to do so, after Liu Cixin.

To reserve a spot with me on this field trip, please RSVP to me directly (on WeChat). A limited number of free tickets will be available for students. (Students will cover of the cost of their own high-speed rail tickets in and out of Shanghai.)

Buy Invisible Planets (Chinese sci fi anthology, includes Hao Jingfang’s “Folding Beijing” and “Invisible Planets”) (T-Mall)

➤ Read Hao Jingfang’s novella “Folding Beijing” online (Uncanny magazine)

➤ Read Hao Jingfang’s short story “The Lonelist Ward” online (Clarkesworld magazine)

购买郝景芳作品集 (天猫,纸质版)

➤ 郝景芳的全部作品可以在掌阅app上阅读

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Book Club Field Trip: Jin Yucheng @ Shanghai Lit Fest
Mar
16
10:00 AM10:00

Book Club Field Trip: Jin Yucheng @ Shanghai Lit Fest

Moderated by Qiu Xiaolong and Austin Woerner

▶ Official event description

Jin Yucheng’s online novel written in Shanghai dialect, Fan Hua (“Blossoms”), won the 2015 Mao Dun Prize for Literature and triggered a surge of interest in dialect literature.

To reserve a spot with me on this field trip, please RSVP to me directly (on WeChat). A limited number of free tickets will be available for students. (Students will cover the cost of their own high-speed rail tickets in and out of Shanghai.)

购买金宇澄的《繁花》(天猫,纸质版)

➤ 金宇澄的《繁花》可以在掌阅app上阅读

Note: Jin Yucheng’s work is currently not available in English.

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Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
Feb
15
3:30 PM15:30

Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

马德琳·英格 ,《时间的皱纹》廖丽 译 

Champion: Tim Smith

Borrow it from the DKU Library! (Available in Chinese, English, ebook, print, and graphic novel format!)

Buy it in English (Taobao)

Buy it as an ebook (Amazon Kindle)

Buy it as an ebook (Amazon China - Kindle)

购买中文版(淘宝)

购买中文电子书 (亚马逊)

Meg is the eldest child of two eccentric scientists, one of whom has been missing for years. When her precocious younger brother Charles Wallace invites some very peculiar people into their house on a stormy night, Meg is drawn into a fantastical quest to find her vanished father. This book is a very well-known novel that many Americans read as children or teenagers.

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Lu Xun, Short Stories
Jan
18
3:30 PM15:30

Lu Xun, Short Stories

《鲁迅小说全集》 The Real Story of Ah Q and Other Tales of China, tr. Julia Lovell

Champion: Lin Haitong

Buy it in English (Taobao)

Buy it as an ebook (Amazon Kindle)

购买中文版 (淘宝)

读电子版 (微信读书)

Early 20th-century satirist Lu Xun is known as the “father of modern Chinese literature,” and he is required reading in Chinese high schools. However, though his work is much admired here, few people outside of China have read it. Julia Lovell, the translator of Lu Xun's short stories, is an excellent prose stylist, so this promises to be a pleasurable read for the English speakers among us — and for our Chinese readers, it will be a chance to share a familiar touchstone.

Note: We will not read all the stories in this collection. The stories we plan to read and discuss are these nine:

  • 故乡 “My Old Home,” 祝福 “New Year’s Sacrifice,” 孔乙己 “Kong Yiji” (these are required reading in Chinese textbooks, and are important cultural touchstones)

  • 阿Q正传 “The Real Story of Ah Q,” 狂人日记 “Diary of a Madman,” 药 “Medicine” (these three are not included in textbooks but are some of Lu Xun’s most famous works)

  • 头发的故事 “Hair,” 孤独者 “The Loner,” 在就楼上 “Upstairs in the Tavern”

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Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep
Dec
7
3:30 PM15:30

Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

雷蒙德·钱德勒 ,《长眠不醒》 (傅惟慈 译)

Buy it in English (Taobao)

购买中文版(淘宝)

In the lawless world of 1930s Los Angeles, an eccentric millionaire hires private detective Philip Marlowe to look into the affairs of his two strange and beautiful daughters. This book is an icon of detective fiction, and in English the writing is lovely. Fu Weici 傅惟慈, who also translated The Moon and Sixpence, is a highly regarded literary translator, and the Chinese edition comes highly recommended.

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Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem (Part 1)
Nov
9
3:30 PM15:30

Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem (Part 1)

刘慈欣,《三体》第一部

Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem (Part 1), translated by Ken Liu

Liu Cixin is probably the most well-known Chinese science fiction author, and one of the first to attain major international acclaim. Part 1 of his trilogy The Three-Body Problem, translated into English by science fiction author Ken Liu, won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the trilogy has become an international bestseller.

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Ursula K. LeGuin, A Wizard of Earthsea
Oct
19
3:30 PM15:30

Ursula K. LeGuin, A Wizard of Earthsea

Ursula K. LeGuin, A Wizard of Earthsea (part 1 of the Earthsea Cycle)

厄休拉·勒古恩,《地海传奇》第一部:《地海巫师》

(中文译本:蔡美玲 译 ~ 马爱农 / 周莉  译

Ursula Le Guin, who passed away this year, is one of the most famous writers of fantasy fiction in English. She is best known for her Earthsea series (地海传奇) and her science fiction novels The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Much of her writing has feminist themes, and she was heavily influenced by Daoism (道家思想) and cultural anthropology. The first novel in the Earthsea series, The Wizard of Earthsea, is a hero narrative about a young wizard coming of age.

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Jin Yong, Legend of the Condor Heroes (Part 1)
Sep
21
3:30 PM15:30

Jin Yong, Legend of the Condor Heroes (Part 1)

金庸,《射雕英雄传》第一册

Jin Yong, Legend of the Condor Heroes, Part 1: A Hero Born (tr. Anna Holmwood)

Legend of the Condor Heroes is one of the most widely read novels by one of the most widely read and well-loved authors in the Chinese language. Jin Yong is considered the father of  武侠 wuxia (martial arts) fiction and I have met very few younger Chinese people who did not devour his writing as a teenager. Anna Holmwood's translation of A Hero Born is the first authorized translation of this "Chinese Tolkien" into English. 

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