Bruce Humes (born in 1955) is an American

literary translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

and critic of Chinese literature, specialising in non-Han authors and their works.

Life

Humes grew up on Chicago's North Shore and in Sewickley, outside Pittsburgh, and had an early interest in languages, teaching himself elementary Latin, and learning German from his mother (who had a PhD in 20th-century French literature). He started studying anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, but after a year abroad at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, switched to oriental studies. In 1978 he moved to Taipei to study Mandarin. His first jobs were working in a UN-hosted camp for Vietnamese refugees, and then working for a trade magazine publisher, both in Hong Kong. From 1994 to 2013 he was based in China, first in Shanghai, then in Shenzhen.

Wei Hui Zhou Wei Hui (; born 4 January 1973), known simply by her Chinese given name Wei Hui, is a Chinese Post 70s Generation writer, living and working in Shanghai and New York City. Her novel ''Shanghai Baby'' () (1999) was banned in the People's Rep ...

's ''

Shanghai Baby ''Shanghai Baby'' is a novel written by Chinese author Wei Hui. It was originally published in China in 1999. The English translation was published in 2001. Synopsis The novel's narrator and main character, supposedly a semi-fictionalised versi ...

'' was the first novel he translated from Chinese. As a foreigner living in China, he began to wonder what life was like for Chinese citizens who were not of the majority ethnic group, Han. He decided to explore writing by and about non-Han peoples and launched his blog, Ethnic ChinaLit in 2009 (subsequently renamed Altaic Storytelling, and now Fei Piao). He left China in 2013 to study Turkish in Istanbul. He is a regular contributor to the Chinese literature website '' Paper Republic''.

Translations

Novels * ''Shanghai Baby'' - by Wei Hui * ''The Last Quarter of the Moon'' - by

Chi Zijian Chi Zijian (; born 27 February 1964) is a Chinese novelist. She is best known for her novel ''The Last Quarter of the Moon'' which won the Mao Dun Literary Prize (2008), one of the most prestigious literature prizes in China. Biography Chi was b ...

* ''Confessions of a Jade Lord'' - by Alat Asem * ''Is He My Son?'' - by Lin Chang Short stories * ''Doomsday, May, 2013'' - from 末日, by

Han Shaogong Han Shaogong (; born January 1, 1953) is a Chinese novelist and fiction writer. Biography Han was born in Hunan, China. While relying on traditional Chinese culture, in particular Chinese mythology, folklore, Taoism and Buddhism as source of in ...

* ''Sidik Golden Moboff'' - from 斯迪克金子关机, by Alat Asem * ''Back Quarters at Number Seven'' - from 后罩楼, by Ye Guangqin * ''Green Tara'' - from 绿度母, by Tsering Norbu

References

External links

Feature article about Humes in the ''South China Morning Post'' (2018)

Bruce Humes profile
a
Paper Republic

Humes' website ''Fei Piao''

Ethnic-themed literature out of China, article by Humes, for Global Literature in Libraries (17 Feb 2017)

''Bilingual mini-database: African Writing in Chinese Translation'' (2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humes, Bruce 1955 births Chinese–English translators Translators to English Translators from Chinese Living people Literary translators