Huang Chunming
Encyclopedia
Huang Chunming (born February 13, 1939) is a Taiwanese literary figure
and teacher. Huang writes mainly about the tragic and sometimes humorous lives of ordinary Taiwanese people, and many of his short stories have been turned into films, including The Sandwich Man
(1983).
, Taiwan
, Huang began his higher education career at a college in Taipei
but, after a series of transfers, ended up graduating from National Pingtung University of Education
in southern Taiwan. He is a writer of broad interests and remarkable versatility, but he is first of all a short story
writer. During the 1960s as a major contributor to the influential Literature Quarterly, Huang was hailed as a representative of hsiang-t'u wen-hsueh, the "nativist literature movement" that focused on the lives of rural Taiwanese people
. In more recent works he has turned his attention to urban culture and life in Taiwan's growing cities.
's The Old Man and the Sea
and "The Killers"; Mark Twain
's Tom Sawyer
, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
, and "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
"; William Faulkner
's "A Rose for Emily," "The Bear," The Wild Palms, and other American literature. Two other important influences were an anthology of short stories by Shen Congwen
and a Chinese translation of stories by Anton Chekhov
.
, (Howard Goldblatt trans). New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. (The Taste of Apples was previously published in a slightly different form as The Drowning of an Old Cat and Other Stories, (Howard Goldblatt trans.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980.)
Alternate translations of individual stories in the Taste of Apples collection are shown in the associated article.
Other English language translations of Huang's work (found at http://mclc.osu.edu/rc/bib.htm):
"Ah-Ban and the Cop." Tr. Howard Goldblattt. The Chinese Pen (Summer, 1981): 94-98.
"Father's Writings Have Been Republished, Or, The Sexuality of Women Students in a Taibei Bookstore." Tr. Raymond N. Tang. In Helmut Martin, ed., Modern Chinese Writers: Self-portrayals. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1992, 204-208.
"A Flower in the Rainy Night." Tr. Earl Wieman. In Joseph S.M. Lau, ed., Chinese Stories From Taiwan: 1960-1970. NY: Columbia UP, 1976, 195-241.
"Hung T'ung, the Mad Artist." Tr. Jack Langlois. In Wai-lim Yip, ed., Chinese Arts and Literature: A Survey of Recent Trends. Occasional Papers/Reprint Series in Contemporary Asian Studies. Baltimore, 1977, 117-26.
"I Love Mary." Tr. Howard Goldblatt. In Joseph S.M. Lau, ed., The Unbroken Chain: An Anthology of Taiwan Fiction Since 1926. Bloomington: IUP, 1983, 133-74.
"Waiting for a Flower's Name" [Dengdai yiduo hua de mingzi]. Tr. David Pollard. In Pollard, ed., The Chinese Essay. NY: Columbia UP, 2000, 345-49.
"We Cant' Bring Back the Past" [Wangshi zhi neng huimei]. Tr. David Pollard. In Pollard, ed., The Chinese Essay. NY: Columbia UP, 2000, 340-45.
"Young Widow." In Rosemary Haddon, tr./ed , Oxcart: Nativist Stories from Taiwan, 1934-1977. Dortmund: Projekt Verlag, 1996, 221-304.
Literature of Taiwan
Taiwanese literature refers to the literature written by Taiwanese, which can use any language ever used generally in Taiwan, like Japanese, Taiwanese, Taiwanese Mandarin.- Novels, short stories, and poetry :...
and teacher. Huang writes mainly about the tragic and sometimes humorous lives of ordinary Taiwanese people, and many of his short stories have been turned into films, including The Sandwich Man
The Sandwich Man (1983 film)
The Sandwich Man is a 1983 Taiwanese film jointly directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wan Ren, and Tseng chuang-hsiang. The script by Wu Nianzhen is based on a story by Huang Chunming entitled "His Son's Big Doll" ....
(1983).
Career
Born in IlanIlan
Ilan may refer to:* Eli Ilan , an Israeli sculptor* Ilan, a town in Taiwan*Ilan Berman, Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council* Ilan Araujo Dall'Igna, a Brazilian footballer* Ilan Eshkeri, a British music composer...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Huang began his higher education career at a college in Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
but, after a series of transfers, ended up graduating from National Pingtung University of Education
National Pingtung University of Education
National Pingtung University of Education is an institute of higher learning in Taiwan.-Academics:There are 14 departments in this university, including Elementary Education, Educational Psychology and Counseling, Early Childhood Education, Special Education, Mathematics Education, Physical...
in southern Taiwan. He is a writer of broad interests and remarkable versatility, but he is first of all a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer. During the 1960s as a major contributor to the influential Literature Quarterly, Huang was hailed as a representative of hsiang-t'u wen-hsueh, the "nativist literature movement" that focused on the lives of rural Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
. In more recent works he has turned his attention to urban culture and life in Taiwan's growing cities.
Influences
Huang has said that in his early years he had limited access to literature in Chinese and that significant influences were Ernest HemingwayErnest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
's The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea is a novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba, and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction to be produced by Hemingway and published in his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it centers upon Santiago, an aging fisherman who...
and "The Killers"; Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer
Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . He appears in three other novels by Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Tom Sawyer Abroad , and Tom Sawyer, Detective .Sawyer also appears in at least three unfinished Twain works, Huck and Tom...
, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular, characterized by...
, and "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is an 1865 short story by Mark Twain, his first great success as a writer, bringing him national attention. The story has also been published as "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" and "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"...
"; William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
's "A Rose for Emily," "The Bear," The Wild Palms, and other American literature. Two other important influences were an anthology of short stories by Shen Congwen
Shen Congwen
Shen Congwen was the pen name of a Miao Chinese writer from the May Fourth Movement. He was known for combining the vernacular style of writing with classical Chinese writing techniques, and his writing also reflects a strong influence from western literature. He was born as Shen Yuehuan on 1902...
and a Chinese translation of stories by Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
.
Translations into English
The major translation of Huang's work into English is The Taste of ApplesTaste of Apples
Taste of Apples is the name of an English language translation of collected short stories of the Taiwanese writer Huang Chunming. The translation is by Howard Goldblatt and was published in 2001 by Columbia University Press....
, (Howard Goldblatt trans). New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. (The Taste of Apples was previously published in a slightly different form as The Drowning of an Old Cat and Other Stories, (Howard Goldblatt trans.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980.)
Alternate translations of individual stories in the Taste of Apples collection are shown in the associated article.
Other English language translations of Huang's work (found at http://mclc.osu.edu/rc/bib.htm):
"Ah-Ban and the Cop." Tr. Howard Goldblattt. The Chinese Pen (Summer, 1981): 94-98.
"Father's Writings Have Been Republished, Or, The Sexuality of Women Students in a Taibei Bookstore." Tr. Raymond N. Tang. In Helmut Martin, ed., Modern Chinese Writers: Self-portrayals. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1992, 204-208.
"A Flower in the Rainy Night." Tr. Earl Wieman. In Joseph S.M. Lau, ed., Chinese Stories From Taiwan: 1960-1970. NY: Columbia UP, 1976, 195-241.
"Hung T'ung, the Mad Artist." Tr. Jack Langlois. In Wai-lim Yip, ed., Chinese Arts and Literature: A Survey of Recent Trends. Occasional Papers/Reprint Series in Contemporary Asian Studies. Baltimore, 1977, 117-26.
"I Love Mary." Tr. Howard Goldblatt. In Joseph S.M. Lau, ed., The Unbroken Chain: An Anthology of Taiwan Fiction Since 1926. Bloomington: IUP, 1983, 133-74.
"Waiting for a Flower's Name" [Dengdai yiduo hua de mingzi]. Tr. David Pollard. In Pollard, ed., The Chinese Essay. NY: Columbia UP, 2000, 345-49.
"We Cant' Bring Back the Past" [Wangshi zhi neng huimei]. Tr. David Pollard. In Pollard, ed., The Chinese Essay. NY: Columbia UP, 2000, 340-45.
"Young Widow." In Rosemary Haddon, tr./ed , Oxcart: Nativist Stories from Taiwan, 1934-1977. Dortmund: Projekt Verlag, 1996, 221-304.