Wang Wen-hsing

Wang Wen-hsing (Chinese: 王文興; pinyin: Wáng Wénxìng; Wade–Giles: Wang2 Wên2-hsing4; 1939 – 27 September 2023) was a Taiwanese writer.

Life and career

Wang obtained a BA in Foreign Languages and Literatures from National Taiwan University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.[1] He returned to NTU's Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures to teach, retiring in 2005 at the rank of Professor.[2]

His first novel, Family Catastrophe (Chinese: 家變; pinyin: Jiābiàn), was published in 1972, a story about a runaway father and a son who takes over the household in his stead. He has also published a novel entitled Backed Against the Sea (Chinese: 背海的人; pinyin: Bèi Hǎi de Rén) as well as several collections of short stories.[3][4][5] In 2009, Wang received the National Award for the Arts.[6]

Wang was born in Fuzhou, and moved from Fujian to Donggang, Pingtung in 1946, then subsequently settled in Taipei. He was married to Chen Chu-yun (陳竺筠), and died on 27 September 2023, at the age of 84.[5][7]

Bibliography of English translations

Novels
  • Family Catastrophe: A Modernist Novel. Tr. Susan Wan Dolling. Honolulu: Hawaii University Press, 2011.
  • Backed Against the Sea. Trs. Ed. Gunn. Ithaca: Cornell East Asia Series, 1993.

Collections
  • Endless War: Fiction and Essays by Wang Wen-hsing. Eds. Shu-ning Sciban and Fred Edwards. Ithaca: Cornell East Asia Program, 2011.

Uncollected short works
  • "The Man in Black." Tr. Shen Li-fen. In Chi Pang-yuan et al., eds., An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Literature. Taipei: National Institute for Compilation and Translation, 1975, II, 309–318.
  • "Flaw." Tr. Ch'en Chu-yün. In Joseph S. M. Lau and Timothy A. Ross, eds., Chinese Stories from Taiwan: 1960–1970. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976.
  • "Such a Symphony of Written Characters One Must Not Allow to Disperse." Tr. Helmut Martin. In Martin, ed., Modern Chinese Writers: Self-portrayals. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1992, 194–95.

Notes and references
  1. Sandrine Marchand, A Jump Over The Gap of History: An Incursion in Wang Wenxing's Fictions
  2. (In Chinese.) Retired Faculty, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  3. Gunn, Edward (September 1984). "The Process of Wang Wen-hsing's Art". Modern Chinese Literature. 1 (1): 29–41. JSTOR 41490565.
  4. Marchand, Sandrine (May–June 2006). "Wang Wenxing, "Back to Back" With the Present". China Perspectives (65). doi:10.4000/chinaperspectives.635.
  5. 邱, 祖胤 (3 October 2023). "作家王文興過世享壽84歲 小說「家變」衝擊台灣文壇" (in Chinese). Central News Agency. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  6. "National Award for Arts announced". Taiwan Today. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  7. Chiu, Tzu-yin; Mazzetta, Matthew (3 October 2023). "Taiwanese novelist Wang Wen-hsing dies at 84". Central News Agency. Retrieved 4 October 2023.


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