Herodot on kapuscinski.info

"The Emperor" in Chinese

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A press conference took place at the Polish Embassy in Beijing with the participation of Professor Wu Lan, who translated Ryszard Kapuściński’s “The Emperor” into Chinese. The ceremony was attended by the Polish Ambassador to China, Tadeusz Chomicki, outstanding translators of Polish literature, representatives of Chinese publishing circles, students of the Polish studies department of the Beijing Foreign Studies University, as well as Chinese and Polish media. This is already the second book by Ryszard Kapuściński translated by Professor Wu Lan. In 2009 “Travels with Herodotus” appeared in Chinese bookshops. The translator emphasised that Kapuściński’s objective view of Africa attests to the Poles’ openness to other cultures. Professor Wu Lan now plans to translate another book by the outstanding Polish reporter, “Imperium”. After the press conference Professor Wu Lan signed copies of “The Emperor” for the readers present at the Embassy.

皇帝 (Huángdì) — "The Emperor" in Chinese

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Author: Adam Kajzer, June 2011

The Chinese edition of Ryszard Kapuściński’s The Emperor is one of the most important literary events in the world this year.

This is already the third book by Kapuściński to be translated into Chinese. In recent years, publishers in Taiwan have translated Imperium and Travels with Herodotus. In China itself, the translation of Kapuściński’s works is handled by translator Wu Lan. In addition to The Emperor, just now published, a Beijing publisher released Travels with Herodotus in 2009.

The Chinese Translation of "The Emperor" by Ryszard Kapuściński

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The Chinese translation of Ryszard Kapuściński’s “The Emperor”, rendered by Wu Lan — a Polish studies scholar who two years earlier had translated “Travels with Herodotus” for Chinese readers — has been published by the Beijing publishing house Xinxing (New Star).

This was announced to PAP by Andrzej Piskulak, a journalist and writer from Kielce, a friend of the translator Wu Lan.

“The appearance of the translation of ‘The Emperor’ has already aroused interest in Chinese literary circles. Negotiations are being conducted with the holders of the copyright, regarding the staging of ‘The Emperor’ as a theatrical production, as has been done in, among other places, Great Britain and Poland” — the man from Kielce quoted from a letter from the Chinese translator.

How I Came to the Idea of Translating "The Emperor" into English

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Author: Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand. Source: http://alfaomega.webnode.com/products/ryszard-kapu/ Date of publication: 2010-03-09

It was March 1979; the aeroplane was flying over the Atlantic, and above the clouds things were for the time being fairly smooth and calm; it was only before the inland stopover at Gander in the Canadian province of Newfoundland that there were to be scenes of infernal proportions: three attempts at landing — the pilot changed his mind at about half a metre above the ground, pulling the plane up again — as well as terrible turbulence that almost prevented the plane’s wheels from making contact with the landing place, a runway covered in a thick layer of snow. For the moment one could enjoy the reading of a new book. Someone among friends, just before departure, had put into my hands “The Emperor” by Ryszard Kapuściński, saying that this was the book everyone in Warsaw was reading at the moment. He added that in Poland it was then compulsory reading, interpreted as a text with a double meaning. Ostensibly about the court of Emperor Haile Selassie, but really about the red court of the Central Committee (of the Polish United Workers’ Party) or, going lower, of the Provincial Committee or the District Committee. Ostensibly about the mechanisms of servility and toadying in the imperial chambers of Ethiopia, but really about those very mechanisms in the offices and antechambers and corridors of power in the People’s Republic of Poland and about those gathered around power.