Calling for a New Renaissance

NEW PUBLICATION: Calling for a New Renaissance by Gao Xingjian (Cambria Press)
Edited by Mabel Lee; translated by Mabel Lee and Yan Qian
https://www.cambriapress.com/GaoXingjianRenaissance
9781621966548 •  $114.99  • 312pp. (includes 50 images, of which 45 are paintings selected by Gao Xingjian from his private collection)

Gao Xingjian won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000 for a body of literary works originally written and published in Chinese and later translated and published in English, French, and Swedish. Gao’s plays have been performed in even more languages on the stages of Asia, Europe, United States, Africa, and Australia. He is also recognized as a painter of international significance; in 2015 his six-panel work The Awakening of the Consciousness became the sole permanent display of a designated room in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. His extraordinary creative achievements draw on his innate talents but also on his profound knowledge and understanding of the creative arts of China and the West.

In Calling for a New Renaissance, Gao presents his primary concerns of the past decade or so. He indicts the lingering impact of ideology on contemporary literature and art, and for this reason calls for “a new Renaissance,” a result of which would be “boundary-crossing creations” such as the three cine-poems that he produced and describes in detail in this book. Of importance in this book, and not documented elsewhere, Gao offers his insights on how, despite receiving his education in the People’s Republic of China, he succeeded in educating himself in both Chinese and world literatures because of his love of reading and his disciplined approach to reading. Calling for a New Renaissance is a valuable resource for academic researchers, students, and general readers interested in Gao Xingjian, transcultural studies, transdisciplinary studies, and transmedia studies.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

“A most valuable collection of writings and public statements by the Nobel laureate Gao Xingjian, whose independent voice calling for the supremacy of human creativity and the transcendental significance of art and literature deserves to be heard, especially in the present age of global crisis. Upon rereading these essays in this elegant English translation, I was deeply impressed by the clarity and clairvoyance of his vision that can be attained only after a lifetime’s dedication to the creative act across the entire range of transmedia genres.” —Leo Ou-fan Lee, The Sin Wai Kin Professor Emeritus of Chinese Culture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

“Gao Xingjian, a writer, artist, thinker, and traveler, is among the most inspiring minds of our time. In this new collection of essays, he explores the boundaries of the humanities, ponders the terms of boundary-crossing, and offers his own discoveries and insights on the other side of boundaries. A Renaissance man in his own right, Gao offers a compelling manifesto for the New Renaissance in the post-pandemic age.” —David Der-wei Wang, Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature, Harvard University

“This book is a tour de force! It introduces English-language readers to the profound thoughts of one of the world’s most distinguished writers. In this book, Nobel laureate Gao Xingjian addresses pressing issues about literature, ideology, politics, environment, and the human and inhuman conditions of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Gao’s thinking matters now more than ever as we live in a time wrought with uncertainties and threats resulting from ideological conflicts, technological changes, and environmental catastrophes. Gao’s thoughts on literature and politics, together with his artworks, as Jianmei Liu so eloquently states in her foreword, ‘have exemplified a personal renaissance in literature and art in a time besieged by commercial desires, political struggles, and spiritual destitution,’ and this new renaissance represents a third space that exists outside the dualist thinking and goes beyond the ‘either/or’ dichotomies, ‘achieving a Zhuangzian state of absolute spiritual freedom.’ Gao’s literature and art, in their unique way, have upheld the individuation of literary writing and artistic creation at a pivotal time of history when sweeping changes are taking over literary and artistic production, now oriented toward the digital, the cybernetic, and the virtual. This book also showcases Gao’s masterful expressions of artistic freedom through breathtaking visual images, in forty-five of Gao’s paintings selected by Gao himself. This collection is one of a kind, with the verbal and visual parts interwoven in a rich, synergistic manner.” — Mingwei Song, Professor of Chinese, Wellesley College

“Gao Xingjian’s call for a new Renaissance is like the ‘sudden enlightenment’ in Zen Buddhism. The present state of art and literature, according to him, needs a sudden jolt of awakening. He sees the threats, the dangers, and the imminent disaster of the destruction of beauty and humanity due to commodification and politicization. Writers and artists seldom comment on their own work, but Gao is the exception. He enjoys talking about his novels, plays, films, paintings, and photography. This makes him more accessible to students and scholars hoping to understand this wonderful writer and artist. Thus, the value of this collection of essays by Gao and interviews with him. Gao’s voice deserves to be heard, and this book provides the channel to further understand the workings of the mind of a Nobel prize winner.” —Gilbert Fong, Dean and Professor, School of Translation and Foreign Languages, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong

TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures
Foreword: Gao Xingjian’s Aesthetic Third Space, by Liu Jianmei
Preface
Introduction: A Biographical Study of Gao Xingjian’s Transmedia Explorations Across Cultures by Mabel Lee

PART I

Chapter 1. Environment and Literature
Chapter 2. Identity: The Scourge of Literature
Chapter 3. Walking Out of the Shadows of the Twentieth Century
Chapter 4. The End of an Era of Ideology; Non-Utilitarian Literature and Art
Chapter 5. Ideology and Literature
Chapter 6. Calling for a New Renaissance in Literature and Art
Chapter 7. Boundary-Crossing Creation

PART II
Chapter 8. Concerning Silhouette/Shadow
Chapter 9. After the Flood
Chapter 10. About Requiem for Beauty and Discussing Cine-Poetry
Chapter 11. Testimonial for the Staging of Of Mountains and Seas
Chapter 12. The Aesthetics of Creation

PART III
Chapter 13. Language Not Location Defines the Writer. An Interview with Noël Dutrait
Chapter 14. The Freedom to Learn, Understanding History, and a New Renaissance. An Interview with Chen Deng-wu
Chapter 15. Rationale for a New Renaissance. An Interview with Chantal Colleu-Dumond
Epilogue. Gao Xingjian’s Way of Thinking, by Liu Zaifu

ABOUT THE EDITOR & TRANSLATOR

Mabel Lee is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and concurrently Honorary Professor at The University of Sydney and the Hong Kong Metropolitan University. She is best known for her translations of Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian’s writings, as well as her prolific writings on various aspects of his creative aesthetics. Her translations include Gao Xingjian’s novels Soul Mountain and One Man’s Bible, his short-story collection Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather, and his essay collection Aesthetics and Creation. Her most recent publication is her coedited book Gao Xingjian and Transmedia Aesthetics.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Yan Qian teaches translation and interpreting at Macquarie University where for many years she convened the Advanced Master of Translation program. Her co-translated books in Chinese include Stephen Owen’s Late Tang Poetry and Frances Yates’ The Art of Memory, while her translations into English include Liu Zaifu’s “Gao Xingjian’s Notion of Freedom,” in Freedom and Fate in Gao Xingjian’s Writings. Her research essay “Lu Xun and Purposeful Translation” and her translation of Guo Jian’s “Lu Xun’s Demon-Exposing Mirrors were published in Lu Xun and Australia.

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