95% of netizens have not read the work of Guerner, the new Nobel Prize winner in literature

In a test on the official website of the Nobel Prize, 95% of netizens have not read Guerner’s work

"Unpopular" Nobel Prize Winners and "Strange" African Literature

　　Our reporter Chen Junyu

　　Editor's note

　　There is currently no Chinese translation of the works of the "unfamiliar" new Nobel Prize winner Abdulazak Gurna. For the convenience of readers, a special issue of this newspaper gives a brief introduction.

In fact, it is not just the Chinese world, but African literature is also in a relatively weak position in the global literary world. As the first "African" to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in the past 20 years, Gulner is believed to be able to arouse more people. Pay attention to African literature.

　　In a test on the official website of the Nobel Prize, nearly 2,000 netizens voted and 95% had not read the work of the award-winning author.

　　The winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature is "postcolonial writer" and literary critic Abdullazak Gurna. He is the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in the past 20 years and the seventh in history. An African-American writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

　　The winning novel was "Paradise" ("Paradise") written in English, published in 1944.

The reason given by the Swedish Academy for the award is: "He has insight into the influence of colonialism and the fate of refugees in the gap between different cultural continents with an uncompromising and compassionate vision."

　　Zhang Feng, an associate professor in the School of English at Beijing Foreign Studies University, is a well-known scholar in China on the study of Guerner’s works and their literary value. According to the introduction in "Borders", "Paradise" is Gurnah's fourth novel and is generally considered to be his masterpiece.

　　When he heard the news of the award, Gulner was in his kitchen.

"I thought it was a prank, really. I was just thinking,'I want to know who will get it'." Surprised Gulner was receiving a telephone interview with Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of the Nobel Prize Outreach Department. Jokingly said.

　　Of course, apart from Guerna himself, African literature also attracted attention.

　　Unexpected and reasonable

　　"Gurner used beautiful and compassionate words to describe individuals in distress. They set aside everything and worked hard to create their own lives in a new country that might not be popular." Five members of the Nobel Prize Committee One of Ellen Mattson (Ellen Mattson) explained why Gulner won the award, "I am most impressed by his ability to create real and vivid characters. His honesty and truthfulness touched me very much. Gulner was never satisfied with simple answers, he questioned everything and sought the truth."

　　Wang Lixing, editor and reviewer of Yilin Publishing House, former president and executive editor of Yilin magazine, has been following the Nobel Prize in Literature. He said that from the perspective of the trend of the Nobel Prize in literature over the past 20 years, Guerner’s award is reasonable. middle.

　　"After entering the 21st century, among the Nobel Prize-winning writers, more are writers from small and weak countries and some writers who are in mainstream Western countries but have multicultural backgrounds." Wang Lixing analyzed, Gurnah's origin. Tanzania, who immigrated to the UK in his early years, has a multicultural background.

　　Zhang Feng’s first reaction to Gulna’s award was very unexpected. At the same time, he also said from the perspective of a literary researcher: "Gulna’s award reflects the continuing concern for immigration, especially refugees, in recent years. Attention. From the perspective of writing themes, Guerner has important writing on topics such as the history of African colonization, the relationship between Africa and Europe, the experience of African immigrants in the UK and identity. In addition, from the perspective of writing style, he is continuing In addition to the writing tradition of English diaspora literature, it has the characteristics of fragmented narrative and poetic language in narrative and language."

　　The process of constant self-searching

　　Gulna was born in Zanzibar Island, Tanzania, Africa in 1948. He arrived in the UK as a refugee in his early 20s. After that, he settled in the UK and began writing in English.

　　Compared with Salman Rushdie, Visu Naipaul, and Kazuo Ishiguro, who are known as the "three heroes" of contemporary British immigrant writers, Gurna is less well-known.

"Gulner is a scholarly writer, playing the triple role of a university professor, a literary critic and a writer. Compared with professional writers, his identity as a writer has been downplayed to a certain extent." Zhang Feng thinks this is Gul. One of the reasons why it is less discussed.

　　So far, Gulner has published a total of 10 novels and several collections of short stories.

Reflecting on refugees' experience, identity, memories of exile, and cultural alienation and identity are the continuing themes of his literary creation.

　　His masterpiece "Paradise" was shortlisted for the 1994 "Booker Award" and "Whitbread Award".

Gulner was also an expert judge on post-colonial writing at the 2016 Booker Prize for Fiction.

　　In the face of the sudden award, Gulner received blessings from all walks of life and was also grateful for the gift of writing. “I think this is a joy of making, a joy of crafting, and a joy of doing it well, but it’s also a joy at the same time. The joy of expressing things clearly, the joy of letting others understand you, the joy of making statements, the joy of persuading, and so on."

　　African literature needs more attention

　　African literature is not considered mainstream literature in the world literary world. Whether it is literary creation, literary research or ordinary readers, they don’t know much about African literature.

Gurna also has no works to introduce the Chinese version for the time being.

　　In 2013, "A Collection of African Short Stories" was introduced and published by Yilin Publishing House and edited by the famous Nigerian writer Chinnua Achebe, the "Father of Modern African Literature". It is currently the only translation of Gurna's works in China. The book, an anthology of novels, compiles two short stories by Guerner: "The Cage" and "Bossi".

　　The Nobel Prize in Literature "will make African literature, including Guerner, receive more attention from global readers."

Wang Lixing said that the introduction of the collection of African short stories around 2012 was also due to the lack of domestic introduction of African literature at that time.

　　"African literature has not seen a relatively concentrated literary eruption so far, and it has been sporadically followed and promoted by mainstream European and American literary circles, media, and publishing houses. African literature is still relatively weak in the global literary world." According to Wang Lixing, there are also some African writers that have attracted global attention, such as Soyinka from Nigeria, who has won the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1986, Mahafoz from Egypt, Godimer and Kuche from South Africa, and Achebe is well-known in the world of literary circles.

　　Among the 118 Nobel Prize winners so far, European writers account for more than 70%, and there are very few winners from Asia and Africa.

Alan Mattson also said that more and more foreign experts are now being used to guide us to focus on language areas or geographic areas that have been neglected in the past.

　　The Nobel Prize undoubtedly has the function of a weather vane. As Gulner wins the prize, African literature will also receive more attention.