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Format: Paperback, 118 pages. Category: Fiction. ISBN 978-988-18419-6-4
‘The Magician of 1919′ is an exciting introduction to the writing of acclaimed avant-garde Chinese author Li Er . The book contains two of Li Er’s stories in English versions by respected translators Jane Weizhen Pan and Martin Merz.
In 1919, the year of the May 4th movement in China, magician Bigshot Cowrie arrives in Peking. He has with him a budgerigar, which is a language genius, a hat with a magical long queue and some pigeons. During his time in Peking, he encounters various figures, fictional and historical, and becomes involved in important events in modern Chinese history.
In addition to the history-juggling title story, ‘The Magician of 1919′ also includes a translation of Li Er’s dark study of cultural dislocation, ‘Christmas Eve’.’ The Magician of 1919′ is the latest book from Make-Do’s ‘Modern Chinese Masters’ imprint.
Li Er
Li Er is widely recognised as being one of China’s most significant writers. His oeuvre comprises two novels and at least 50 novellas and short stories. ‘The Magician of 1919’ highlights Li Er’s interest in the situation of the Chinese intellectual well as his experiments with narrative form. Li’s other works include the groundbreaking ‘Coloratura’ (2002,) which has much in common with ‘The Magician,’ and ‘Cherry on a Pomegranate Tree’ (2002.)
Jane Weizhen Pan and Martin Merz
Jane Weizhen Pan holds an MA in translation studies from Monash University. She co-translated Wang Gang’s novel English with Martin Merz. Jane is an interpreter in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. She taught translation and interpreting at RMIT University in Melbourne and has just hopped down the PhD rabbit hole at the Australian National University to research nonsense literature in translation.
Martin Merz grew up in Australia where he earned a BA (hons.) in Chinese language and literature from Melbourne University before heading to Asia. After running around China for two decades doing China trade, Martin took an MA in applied translation from the Open University of Hong Kong. He co-translated Wang Gang’s novel English in 2009 for Penguin with Jane Weizhen Pan.