Newsletter No. 329

No. 329, 19.12.2008 華裔英文作家裘小龍教授以陳超探長為主人公的一系列偵探 小說稱著，首部《紅英之死》先後入圍愛倫坡小說獎和巴里小 說獎，並獲2001年安東尼小說獎，為世界首位奪得推理小說 獎最高榮譽的華人。 裘小龍教授最近出版的新書，卻不是偵探小說，而是描寫上海 六十年變遷的小說集─《紅塵歲月》，該書的大部分創作在中 大完成。裘教授說：「今年3月，法國的《世界報》與我聯繫，要 從7月開始連載我一部未曾發表的作品。要在兩三個月內成書， 還要留出時間來翻譯為法文及編輯，時間是太緊張了。剛巧我早 答應中大於4月擔任駐校作家，英文系的Prof. David Parker又幫 我排除了各種干擾，我在中大的一個月便得以埋頭寫作。」 就是這樣，裘教授以英文寫好稿子，便電郵給法文翻譯。從 7月16日起，《紅塵歲月》在《世界報》連載六星期。裘教授的 一位老同學在法國國際廣播電台中文部任職，看到連載，把它 譯成中文，在電台中同步一篇篇播出。及後，中大出版社把播音 內容結集，整理成中譯本，反而英文原稿仍未出版。 Prof. Qiu Xiaolong, renowned novelist writing in English, shot to fame in the Western literary arena with his highly acclaimed Inspector Chen series of mystery novels. Prof. Qiu’s first novel, Death of a Red Heroine , was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe and Barry awards, and won the Anthony Award in 2001, making him the first Chinese to receive this international accolade for mystery fiction. While readers wait for the new Inspector Chen novel, Prof. Xiao took time to complete his latest book at CUHK. Years of Red Dust describes changes in Shanghai since 1949. Prof. Xiao said, ‘The French newspaper Le Monde contacted me in March to publish an unpublished work of mine starting in July. But the schedule was tight and I had to reserve time for translation into French. It so happened that I was invited to serve as a writer-in-residence for the month of April at CUHK. And thanks to Prof. David Parker, chairman of the Department of English, I am free from interruptions to my writing. My month at CUHK has been very productive.’ Prof. Xiao wrote in English and then e-mailed his manuscript to the translator. The Years of Red Dust was serialized from 16 July for six weeks. Prof. Xiao’s former classmate who works in Radio France Internationale translated the serial into Chinese. The Chinese version was compiled and published by the Chinese University Press. 《香港往倫敦 2007》 張燦輝攝影，哲學系 ‘Hong Kong to London 2007’ Photograph by Cheung Chan-fai, Department of Philosophy 華裔英文作家在中大娓述《紅塵歲月》 Celebrated Novelist Tells about Years of Red Dust at CUHK 大專水運會創佳績 Swimmers Excel in Aquatic Meet 中 大女子泳隊在10月26日的舉行的「第四十五屆大專水運會」勇奪女子團體亞軍，男 子泳隊則取得團體第五名，在男女子總團體成績方面則獲季軍。今年共有十所院 校參賽，實力非常接近，競爭激烈。 A t the 45th Annual Aquatic Meet of the University Sports Federation of Hong Kong held on 26 October, the CUHK swimming team walked away with very good results. The women’s team was first runner-up in the women’s overall, while the men swimmers secured fifth place in the men’s overall and third place in the men’s and women’s overall. A total of 10 institutions took part in this year’s tournament. As teams were equally skilled, competition was fierce. 《紅塵歲月》的故事發生在上海 一條叫紅塵坊的弄堂。紅塵坊 的人喜歡晚上出來，在弄堂口 聊天講故事。故事自1949年 開始說起，和他們的弄堂、 上海和時代背景都有 關係。 Years of Red Dust is a collection of connected stories about China from 1949 to the present. The stories are narrated by people in a lane called Red Dust, who talk about what happens in the lane and in Shanghai. In China, a person’s meaning or value is often determined by his political or social background, but when the background keeps shifting, the meaning of a person or a story is in the constant process of being constructed and deconstructed. With the stories put together against such a historical framework, their meanings comment, complement, and contradict one another.