Chinese sci-fi has crossed the translation barrier

2024-04-04

Download

Netflix's lavish new adaptation of Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem is the latest 'translation' of one of this century's best, and best-selling, sci-fi novels. In this episode, we track the role of translation—on screen and on the page—in the global rise of Chinese sci-fi. Our guide is reporter and sci-fi aficionada Lydia Emmanouilidou who talks with several people involved in the Chinese literary scene, notably The Three-Body Problem's English translator Ken Liu. More about Lydia Emm...

Netflix's lavish new adaptation of Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem is the latest 'translation' of one of this century's best, and best-selling, sci-fi novels. In this episode, we track the role of translation—on screen and on the page—in the global rise of Chinese sci-fi. Our guide is reporter and sci-fi aficionada Lydia Emmanouilidou who talks with several people involved in the Chinese literary scene, notably The Three-Body Problem's English translator Ken Liu.

More about Lydia Emmanouilidou here. Music in this episode by Ambre Jaune, Medité, Pearce Roswell and Trabant 33.

Read a transcript of the episode here. And sign up for Subtitle’s newsy, nerdy, fortnightly newsletter here.

Comments (3)