The Last Quarter of the Moon: Translator Q&A with Bruce Humes

In this conversation, we talk with celebrated translator Bruce Humes about his favorite reads and bookstores, as well as the importance of reading literature in translation. Bruce lives in Taiwan and specializes in translating writing by/about China-based Altaic peoples and Silk Road culture.

If monolingual Americans read more fiction in translation–and US publishers published more!–readers might be better placed to recognize how bizarre Trumpian Norms actually are.—Bruce Humes

Milkweed Staff: What was the first translated book you read?

Bruce Humes: Perhaps Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, translated from Jules Verne’s original in French. I hadn’t a clue it wasn’t penned in English!

Milkweed Staff: What is your last great read?

Bruce Humes: Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer.

Milkweed Staff: What is your go-to independent bookstore in the U.S. and abroad?

Bruce Humes: Haven’t been in the U.S. for decades. Parenthèses in Hong Kong, which has a great selection of French fiction and Asian history books.

Milkweed Staff: Where is your favorite place to read?

Bruce Humes: Depends on the season. In summer, Dongfeng Café (東豐咖啡), one of the rare al fresco cafés in Tainan. In winter, at home on my bed atop a cozy quilt.

Milkweed Staff: What is your favorite piece of literature in translation?

Bruce Humes: Not sure I have an all-time favorite. I much enjoyed Nicky Harman’s The Unbearable Dreamworld of Champa the Driver, her translation of Chan Koonchung’s Chinese novel (裸命), a satire on the unbalanced relations between China and Tibet.

I was blown away by Sarah Ardizzone’s rendition of Alain Mabanckou’s Black Bazaar. I read both the French and English versions, and thought the latter showed that precious little need be lost in translation.

Milkweed Staff: Why read literature in translation?

Bruce Humes: To experience worlds that differ from one’s own without having to master another tongue. If monolingual Americans read more fiction in translation–and US publishers published more!–readers might be better placed to recognize how bizarre Trumpian Norms actually are.