One thing that has been keeping me busy lately is working on a translation of the graphic novel 神祕列車 (Mystery Train), an adaptation of the story of the same name by Kan Yao-ming (甘耀明), with a script by Shih Meng-hsieh (食夢蟹), and wonderful illustrations by Sen (森森). The story is a powerful, hallucinatory journey into the history of Taiwan’s White Terror, exploring the lasting effects of these long decades of political oppression, and the silence that envelops so many survivors.
I’ve been working on this as a part of the Books from Taiwan initiative, from the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture. The aim is to translate books—or parts of books—so that they can be offered to the international market. Whether in Mexico or Korea, France or Oman, most publishers cannot read Mandarin. But they can read English—or they have people working for them who can. And so to promote Taiwanese literature on the translation market, it’s necessary to have an English-language edition. This means, perhaps rather curiously, that there’s no guarantee that this translation will see the light of day in English. Instead, the English edition acts as a bridge to other global markets. But it feels like worthwhile work, getting these incredible works out into the world, in whatever language.
This has been my first book-length translation project, and it’s been richly fulfilling. I’ve been lugging a copy of the book around me for the past few months, from Taiwan to Scotland and back again, getting to know its rhythms, its underlying mood, the unique world that it unfolds. I’ve also been listening to podcasts and interviews with contributors, and reading up on my Taiwanese history. And today, I’m delighted to have sent off the manuscript.
Taiwan is a small country, and one that is often seen in terms of bigger geopolitical issues, rather than as a place in and of itself. Literature is one way—and a powerful one—of bringing to light stories these stories about what it means to be Taiwanese, here in the 21st Century. And so I feel honoured to be playing a small part in this project.
Image: double-page spread from 神祕列車, by 森森Sen.
