Through his skillful weaving of narrative, Meneses Lazón preserves his heroes' irrepressible individuality. His approach to the Quechua language is resolutely modern: he aims mainly to develop the expressiveness of the language. Thus, this small bilingual volume offers an experience that is not only literarily fulfilling, but also linguistically innovative.

First original screenplay published in French of a Chinese-language film, the screenplay for the City of Pain (Golden Lion in Venice in 1989), a masterpiece of Taiwanese cinema directed by Hou Hsiaohsien, is given here to read as a literary work. Co-written by Chu Tien-wen and Wu Nien-jen, through the abundant and tragic history of the Lim family, it brings an intimate feeling of the “pains” of the island of Taiwan following the dramatic events of February-March 1947, tragic episode that no film had yet dared to mention.The reader will be able to appreciate the complexity of the political situation and social relations at a time when the Japanese colonizer is giving way to the authoritarian government of the Republic of China. He will (re) discover a brilliant woman of letters well known for her novels and short stories, and a remarkable scriptwriter-dialogue writer (and director). It will also gain access to an in-depth understanding of a powerful and original cinematographic work through its both political and memorial approach.

Taking an eco-critical approach, Gwennaël Gaffric discusses the literary treatment of ecological issues in Taiwan. He focuses his study on the works of Wu Ming-yi, a major figure in Taiwanese literary, artistic and militant scenes, but he seeks to expand his presentation by putting in perspective and dialogue texts from other contemporary Taiwanese authors, as well as that reflections proposed by thinkers from several disciplines and all geographical horizons, Asia, Europe and elsewhere. He achieves an impressive synthesis, where ecology becomes an ontology of the relationship between humans and non-humans and an epistemological path to think the Anthropocene. Preface by Stéphane Corcuff. —- Gwennaël Gaffric (born in 1987) is a lecturer in Chinese language and literature at Jean-Moulin Lyon 3 University. He is the author of several articles in French, English and Chinese on Chinese-language literature (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan). A literary translator, he directs the "Taiwan Fiction" collection at l'Asiathèque. Among his translations published at l'Asiathèque : the City of Pains (Wu Nien-jen and Chu Tien-wen), Membrane (Chi Ta-wei) and the Magician on the bridge (Wu Ming-yi). His recent research focuses on contemporary sinophic science fiction. As such, he is also the translator of the trilogy of Liu Cixin (Actes Sud edition) initiated with the Problem with three bodies, and the War of the bubbles, Kao Yi-feng, Mirobole editions. Wu Ming-yi (born in 1971) is a professor of literature at Dong Hwa National University. Known for his environmental commitment, he is a major author of the contemporary Taiwanese literary scene. Sometimes compared to Haruki Murakami and David Mitchell, he has become a singular voice in world literature. Several of his literary works have been published in French: the Sleeping Navigation Lines (You Feng, 2013), the Man with the Faceted Eyes (Stock, 2014, 2014 Fiction Prize at the Ouessant International Book of Island Books), the Magician on the bridge (L'Asiathèque, 2017) and a short story from the Taipei anthology, Histoires at the corner of the street (L'Asiathèque, 2017).

"The Bride of Amman" (taken from the original Arabic title: Arous Amman), by Fadi Zaghmout, is the translation of a bestseller in Jordan, subject of heated controversy without having been censored. The original Arabic edition, published in 2012 by Jabal Amman Publishing in Amman, Jordan, continues to rank among the bestsellers. An English edition was subsequently published in 2012 by Signal 8 Press (Hong Kong).
In this book humor and sadness are mixed in an explosive cocktail which leads the reader into a reflection on the condition of women and homosexuals in the Arab world. Four young women and a young man speak out one after the other, their voices alternating to tell of the tragedies they have gone through. The different episodes of their lives are recounted in a direct and vivid way, with numerous dialogues, the trials to which young people are subjected in a traditional society where sclerotic rules of good behavior and the fear of what people will say are governing romantic relationships. For women, it's marriage, as fast as possible, a successful engagement counting far more than success in exams. It is also submission to paternal power, with the risks of abuse of any kind that this entails. And that is, of course, the value of virginity, jealously guarded because it is one of the conditions of the social order as it is conceived and observed in a family that wants to maintain its rank. For men, it is the obligation to behave in a manly manner, with all that this represents of hypocrisy regarding those whose sexual orientation takes them away from the socially required way of life. The result of all this: a lot of suffering, exile sometimes when family imperatives have been seriously violated, and even death when the situation seems hopeless.

Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature 2020.

The novel Funérailles molles tackles the sensitive and disturbing subject of the Agrarian Reform. Having preceded the Cultural Revolution by ten years, it is one of the most deadly episodes in recent history of the country, little covered in Chinese literature because of the taboos attached to it. Inspired by a true story, the story starts with hintsveiled from the painful events that a young woman experienced and which she kept hidden throughout her life because the memory was unbearable. Having become old, she suddenly sees the past resurface violently and, the shock having caused in her a state of apparent prostration, internally relives, step by step, the tragedies that have disappeared from her memory while her son struggles to reconstitute them - until the moment he gives it up, forgetting seeming preferable to him.This novel appears both as an exceptional document and as a major literary work. As interesting in substance as in form, it goes beyond the framework of the Chinese Agrarian Reform to deliver a universal and still current reflection on the temptation to forget and the duty to remember in a context where historical truth is elusive.

The collection of short stories Salaam (« Allégeance »), translated from Hindi and published in India in 2000, offers 14 short stories dealing with the issues constantly faced by the population of the lower castes, also refer as the dalite community. Some of the short stories take place in an urban surroudings with the emergence of an dalite "elite" who must hide the caste they come from in order to find an housing and manage to mix with the neigboors. However, as soon as their statut of untouchables is revealed, they become subject of denigration and sudden spurge of hate and aversion from the neigboors. This change of behaviour toward dalits also occures at work, especially for those working as office workers, as humilation, act of intimidations and harassement at work become common practises once they are seen as part of the dalit community. Other short stories take place in village, considered as a heaven place according to the ideals of Gandhi. Yet, for the untouchables, villages are hellish places where arbitay and tiranic power prevails along with social injustice, feodalism, capitalism and Brahmanism, which characterised somehow the hindouist system.

of theCertaines nouvelles sont situées dans un cadre urbain avec l’émergence d’une « élite » dalite qui doit cacher sa caste pour pouvoir trouver un logement et frayer avec les voisins, où la déconsidération, la brusque haine, le dégoût soudain dont certains font immédiatement l’objet lorsque leur statut d’intouchables est découvert, de même que les humiliations, les intimidations, le harcèlement au travail de nombre de dalits qui ont un emploi de bureau. D’autres nouvelles ont pour cadre le village, paradis selon les idéaux gandhiens, mais également fabrique du système hindou, lieu où s’exerce un pouvoir tyrannique et arbitraire, où règne l’injustice sociale, fief du brahmanisme, du féodalisme et du capitalisme et véritable enfer terrestre pour les intouchables. L’auteur s’exprime dans ses nouvelles à la troisième personne et recourt souvent au dialogue. Les descriptions sont à la fois concise et méticuleusement détaillées. Les faits parlent d’eux-mêmes et éveillent les lecteurs à la dure réalité des dalits, les sensibilisant à leurs souffrances et les amenant in fine à un état de conscience rendant possible un changement social susceptible de redonner leur dignité à ceux qui en ont été privés depuis des siècles.

Kyoto, in the seventies.

The story is written in the first person: a young Frenchman is introduced to the tea ceremony with Madame Yamamoto, the sensei (the one who passes on her knowledge and experience). We are awaiting the arrival of one of the participants, Shimizu-san. Her first name, Ichie, evokes both the "meeting" (ichie) of two young people around tea and the Buddhist term ichigo ichie, literally "one time, one meeting", which is part of the Way of tea.

As the feeling between Yamamoto sensei's two students slowly dawns, Ichie reveals to the young man the tragic secret of her family during an unusual tea ceremony.

In this weightless story, as light as the gestures of tea and almost without intrigue, everything is in the atmosphere, in a feeling of strangeness and fascination which carries the reader, and in the conduct of a cleverly arranged story. One thinks of the film released in 2020 by Tatsushi Ômori, Every Day a Good Day, and Thousand Cranes, by Kawabata Yasunari.

From the Author of the appreciated Lettres d'Ogura.

Since its first publication in Korea in 1991, Je veux aller dans cette île (The Island) has attracted widespread public attention, thanks to its unique style. Through a series of dramatic, authentic, and frankly comic episodes, Lim Chul-woo brings the reader with him in his home island. Remembrance, tenderness, traditions: these are a few of the subjects that The Island approaches, along with the beauty of human relations in the rural communities, isolated from the modern world. Lim Chul-woo, born in 1954, is the author of powerful works that have earned prestigious literary awards and international recognition. Je veux aller dans cette île (The Island), directly inspired from the world of his childhood, was the subject of a film (Kŭ sŏm'e kago sipta / To the Starry Island) which he has co-written with Lee Chang-dong (who also wrote the postface of Je veux aller dans cette île) and which was directed by Park Kwang-su. Je veux aller dans cette île : French version published by L'Asiathèque on September 4th 2013. You can now read an extract from Je veux aller dans cette île here or a review (in French) by the Corée Magazine here. The Island : English version available in English bookstores.

South Korea, April 16th, 2014; the Sewol shipwreck cost the life of 304 people, most of them were teenagers on a school trip. An huge scandal that highlights multiple failings, especially in the organization of costguards. This drama and its aftermath will contribute to the deposition of former korean president Park Geun-hye. The story takes the form of a written statement of the narrator - a professional diver - intended to exonerate one of his colleagues who is accused of manslaughter. He evokes the infernal search for corpses through the obscure labyrinth of the wreck, the serious trauma suffered by the divers and denounces the carelessness with which the operations were carried out, as well as the unfair accusations hold against those who have devoted themselves to return the bodies to the families. The author does not cite the name of the ship, nor those of the real protagonists, as he wish to give the novel an universal scope. He indicates in the afterword that the diver he used as model passed away. The investigation following his death led to the conclusion of a suicide. Kim Takhwan, born in 1968, is the author of successful historical novels, which have regularly been adapted to television. A committed writer, he draws his themes from Korean history to denounce injustices, call for a citizen revolution and encourage civic action. Only one of his books, Les Romans meurtriers, has been  translated in French and published by Philippe Picquier, in 2010.

At a time of a globalized crisis where Taiwan's singular voice is beginning to be heard, the collection of short stories Formosana allows French-speaking readers to understand the historical and social trajectories of this island whose situation stands out in the concert of the United States. nations of the world. Literature thus appears as a privileged medium for seeing what the Taiwanese experience has to offer to the world. When speaking is often reduced to its bare minimum (a sentence, a tweet, a post), literary speaking, by showing the complexity of a society and the world, is more essential than ever. In this anthology, directed by Gwennaël Gaffric, ten texts by different authors and representative of the current Taiwanese literary scene are proposed, all written after 1987 and which address a multitude of facets of Taiwanese history and society: its political history. (the Japanese colonization, the events of February 28, 47, the white terror, the movement of "non-party", the lifting of martial law, the process of democratization of the country ...) and its social history (aboriginal movements, workers, feminists, LGBT, students, environmentalists…).

Referring to Tibetan and Chinese literatures, relations from travelers and works of many researchers, Rolf Alfred Stein (1911-1999) presents here the abundant richness of Tibetan culture in its various aspects: habitat and population, history, social organization, religion and custom, arts and letters. His purpose is to provide, through a range of topics, documents and facts, a general and significant view that enables the reader to understand a world where sacred and profane mingle in every gesture, every sound, every trip. The book, first published in 1962, then revised by the author in 1987, is a reference book particularly valuable at a time when Tibetans see their traditional lifestyle and their specific cultural aspects severely threatened. Rolf A. Stein, professor at the College de France, Chair of Chinese Studies, institutions and concepts, from 1966 to 1981, is the author of numerous books, including Épopée tibétaine de Gesar dans sa version lamaïque de Ling (1956) and Le Monde en petit, jardins en miniatures et habitations dans la pensée religieuse d’Extrême-Orient (1987). In tribute to Rolf A. Stein at the time of the centenary of his birth - June 13, 1911 - this new edition ends with an In Memoriam by Ms. Liying Kuo, director of studies at the EFEO, dedicated to this great scholar, published in Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie II (1999-2000).