Jeremy Tiang – författare

“These essays, deftly blending the political and the personal, offer fresh, galvanizing, and passionate perspectives on literary translation.”—Jhumpa Lahiri

A manifesto in 22 essays, Violent Phenomena breaks stale rules about who can and should translate, envisioning a future more reflective of the beautiful polyphony of literature in all languages.

?What would it take to unlearn centuries of colonial influence over the books we read? The values, institutions, and structures that determine which of the world’s books and authors are translated, and by whom, are in dire need of disruption. Violent Phenomena brings together established and emerging translators from around the world to guide the way.

Frantz Fanon wrote in 1961 that “Decolonization is always a violent phenomenon,” meaning that the violence of colonialism can only be counteracted in kind. As colonial legacies linger today, what are the ways in which we can disentangle literary translation from imperial violence? In stark contrast with their predecessors, who were trained to be as “neutral” as possible, the contributors to Violent Phenomena demand engagement with the translator’s identity, voice, and cultural context, which shapes the result and in turn has an outsize influence on how a writer’s work is received.

From Anton Hur on “The Mythical English Reader” to Sawad Hussain’s “Why Don’t You Translate Pakistanian?,” these essays face the hard questions head on, offering readers the tools they need to demand a new literary playing field.

Features a new foreword by award-winning translator and author Bruna Dantas Lobato.

"State of Emergency is a compelling, important piece of work from one of Singapore’s finest living authors.” —The Straits Times

Siew Li leaves her husband and young children to fight for freedom in the jungles of Malaya. Decades later, a Malaysian journalist returns to her homeland to uncover the truth of a massacre committed during the Emergency, while Siew Li’s son uncovers the truth of his family’s past. Informed by years of painstaking research, Jeremy Tiang’s debut novel dives into the tumultuous days of leftist movements and political detentions in Singapore and Malaysia. It follows an extended family from the 1940s to the present day as they navigate the choppy political currents of the region.State of Emergency questions whether we can grasp the truth after the fact. And yet, in the very telling of its interlocking stories, it reaffirms the importance of trying.