Chinese writer captivates Hungarian readers

The oeuvre of Chinese writer Yu Hua was at the center of a recent event organized by the Contemporary Chinese Literature Book Club of Hungary in a trendy literary cafe-bookshop.

The well-known author greeted the book club, which premiered with his books on Sept 15, in a video message.

"Each of my works is about the lives and experiences of Chinese people — Chinese people who are shaped by experiencing the changes of the times," Yu said.

The literary event was chaired by Klara Zombory, a Sinologist and literary translator. The guests talked about Yu's renowned novel To Live, the grotesque elements and the omnipresence of life and death in his writings.

Zombory says Yu is one of her favorite writers, and translating his works was the reason she became a literary translator.

Explaining Yu's success in Europe, she says his language is easy to understand and the stories he tells are interesting to Europeans.

On the purpose of setting up the Contemporary Chinese Literature Book Club, Zombory says she believes that translating books was not enough, and there needed to be such activities to introduce these books to Hungarian readers.

Hungarian Sinologist and literary translator Eva Kalmar says Yu, considered a master of avant-garde, is an expert on modern Chinese society, and depicts its elements in a meticulous way.

Miklos M. Nagy, an author, says Yu is a well-known and popular writer in Hungary where five of his books have been published.

Yu's latest novel, Wencheng, will soon be published in the country.

Daniel Fodor, a trainee lawyer, says he is eager to learn more about the writer and Chinese literature in general after attending the event.

The event was co-hosted by the China Cultural Center in Budapest, with support from the Chinese Writers Association.