Childhood Memories, by Roddy Doyle [Ireland], translated by Guo Guoliang and Peng Zhendan, December 2020 edition of Shanghai Translation Publishing House
Written | Gong Zhaohua
01
This book
Beijing News: Why did the book "Childhood Past" stand out in the book book award selection that year?
Guo Guoliang: In 1993, "Childhood Past" and five other works were finally shortlisted for the Booker Award. It is capable of frustrating because of its unique narrative style and style, using a non-episodic structure, fragmented language, disorderly realistic arrangement, and a narrative that jumps out of the sense of time, which is refreshing. As the title of its Chinese edition suggests, it is a story of growing pains, telling the story of the protagonist, Patrick Clark, who is suddenly pushed by life into a slightly complex and cruel adult world after his parents' relationship is broken. On the other hand, the novel also explores the enduring literary themes of growth, marriage, and family from the perspective of a young boy, and witnesses the cultural, religious, political and other changes in Ireland after World War II from the side, adding a bit of historical heaviness to the novel, making it different from the general growth novel, and becoming a classic masterpiece with deep affection in the plain.
02
This person
Beijing News: Can you briefly introduce the writer Roddy Doyle to readers?
Guo Guoliang: Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958 and is known as Ireland's "novelist laureate" and "great comedy writer". Doyle's work is sometimes unbridled and sometimes unmoving, good at writing about the lives of ordinary people in Dublin, seeing spirit and current bones in the subtleties, and has been praised by Time magazine as "full of Celtic black humor" and ingenuity. In addition, Doyle has long been active in international literature, theatre, film and television, and his film adaptation of his novel "Dreamcatcher" won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards "Best Screenplay Award". His reputation in Irish literature is high, with many well-known Irish writers, including Joseph O'Connor, praising him and being highly regarded among newcomer writers, such as Donal Ryan, who has received a lot of attention in recent years.
Roddy Doyle
03
This year
Beijing News: During this year, have you received feedback on the reading of "Childhood Memories"? What other translation work have you done this year?
Guo Guoliang: I have not received it myself. But listening to the publisher, although the work is not well known to the public, it is highly evaluated among book critics and literary media. In 2021, in addition to the fragmentary translation of several interviews with British and American writers and three short stories, the main translations of the two giants of the "British Literary Big Three" are Julian Barnes and Martin Amis's "Man in an Infrared Suit" and "Stakes".
Edit | Xu Yuedong
Proofreading | Xue Jingning