Chinese snap up new translation of Finnegan's Wake

[jbuck919]

Even Harold Bloom admits being daunted by this book even after many readings.

Joyce's Finnegans Wake a Best-Seller in China
Thursday 31 January 2013
8,000 copies of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake have sold out within three weeks of going on sale.


A first edition of the lengthy novel - which in its phonetic rendering from Chinese comes out as Finnigin de Shoulingye - has sold out within three weeks of going on sale on Christmas Day, according to The Irish Times.

Given the fact that the novel presents a notoriously difficult reading experience in English, not to mind other languages, makes the runaway success all the more impressive.

"Reading Finnegans Wake is like looking at the sky, or the whole world," the novel's translator Dai Congrong told the newspaper. "It's like a garden in Suzhou, carefully arranged and selected."

It took Dai eight years to complete the work. 8,000 copies is more than double the original English language print run of 3,400 copies for Joyce's 676-page novel, which is favoured by a certain coterie of American academics, and largely neglected by the reading public. Ulysses fares far better, and very probably in Chinese too.

http://www.rte.ie/ten/2013/0131/joyce.html

[sans maitre]

riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend 1
of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to 2
Howth Castle and Environs. 3
Sir Tristram, violer d'amores, fr'over the short sea, had passen- 4
core rearrived from North Armorica on this side the scraggy 5
isthmus of Europe Minor to wielderfight his penisolate war: nor 6
had topsawyer's rocks by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselse 7
to Laurens County's gorgios while they went doublin their mumper 8
all the time: nor avoice from afire bellowsed mishe mishe to 9
tauftauf thuartpeatrick: not yet, though venissoon after, had a 10
kidscad buttended a bland old isaac: not yet, though all's fair in 11
vanessy, were sosie sesthers wroth with twone nathandjoe. Rot a 12
peck of pa's malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight and rory 13
end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface. 14
The fall (bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner- 15
ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthur- 16
nuk!) of a once wallstrait oldparr is retaled early in bed and later 17
on life down through all christian minstrelsy. The great fall of the 18
offwall entailed at such short notice the pftjschute of Finnegan, 19
erse solid man, that the humptyhillhead of humself prumptly sends 20
an unquiring one well to the west in quest of his tumptytumtoes: 21
and their upturnpikepointandplace is at the knock out in the park 22
where oranges have been laid to rust upon the green since dev- 23
linsfirst loved livvy.

I don't know how this would translate into Spanish or German, let alone Chinese. The spellings are full of puns and double meanings that would be lost. How does "