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.

The 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 presented here as a literary work. Co-written by Chu Tien-wen and Wu Nien-jen, it makes us feel intimately, through the abundant and tragic story of the Lim family, the “pains” of the island of Taiwan following the dramatic events of February-March 1947, a 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 the time when the Japanese colonizer is giving way to the authoritarian government of the Republic of China. They will (re)discover a brilliant woman of letters well known for her novels and short stories, and a remarkable screenwriter-dialogue writer (and director). They will also gain an in-depth understanding of a powerful and original cinematographic work through both its political and its 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, the subject of heated controversy, although it was not censored. The original Arabic edition, published in 2012 by Jabal Amman Publishing in Amman, Jordan, continues to rank among Jordan's bestselling novels. An English edition was subsequently published in 2012 by Signal 8 Press (Hong Kong).
In this book, humor and sadness are mixed together in an explosive cocktail which leads the reader to reflect 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 the stories of the tragedies they have gone through. These different episodes of their lives are recounted in a direct and vivid way, with numerous dialogues, highlighting 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 is compulsory marriage, as fast as possible, a successful engagement counting for much more than any academic success. It is also submission to paternal power, with all the risks of abuse that this entails. And it 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 the hypocrisy that this represents regarding those whose sexual orientation takes them away from the way of life prescribed by society. The result of all this: a lot of suffering, and sometimes exile when family imperatives have been seriously violated, and when the situation seems hopeless, even death.

Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature 2020.

The novel 'Funérailles molles' tackles the sensitive and disturbing subject of the Agrarian Reform in China. Having preceded the Cultural Revolution by ten years, it is one of the most deadly episodes in the country's recent history, seldom covered in Chinese literature owing to the taboo associated with it. Inspired by a true story, the novel begins with veiled hints at the painful events that a young woman experienced and which she kept hidden throughout her life, because the memories were unbearable. Having now grown older, she suddenly sees the past resurface violently and, the shock, having caused her extreme distress, compels her to internally relive, step by step, the tragedies that she tried to erase from her memory while her son struggles to reconstitute them - until the moment he gives up, deeming it preferable to forget. This novel appears both as exceptional documentary evidence 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 referred to 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 practices once they are seen as part of the dalite community. Other short stories take place in village, considered as a heavenly 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. The author expresses himself in his short stories in the third person and often resorts to dialogue. The descriptions are both concise and meticulously detailled. The facts speak for themselves and awaken readers to the harsh reality of the Dalite community, making them aware of their suffering and ultimately bringing them to a state of consciousness that makes possible a social change that can restore the dignity of those who have been deprived of it for centuries.

Kyoto, in the seventies.

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

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

In this weightless story, as airy and light as the flow of tea and almost without a plot, everything rests in the atmosphere, in a feeling of strangeness and fascination which carries the reader through a cleverly orchestrated story. It may be thought reminiscent 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 acclaimed Lettres d'Ogura.

Since its first publication in Korea in 1991, Je veux aller dans cette île (The Island) has attracted widespread public attention, owing to its unique style. Through a series of dramatic, authentic, and frankly comic episodes, Lim Chul-woo brings the reader on a journey with him to his home island. Remembrance, tenderness, tradition: these are a few of the subjects that The Island touches on, along with the beauty of human relations in these rural communities, isolated from the modern world. Lim Chul-woo, born in 1954, is the author of various powerful works that have earned him prestigious literary awards and international recognition. Je veux aller dans cette île (The Island), directly inspired from the world of his childhood, has been adapted into a film (Kŭ sŏm'e kago sipta / To the Starry Island) which he co-wrote 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' : the French version, was 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' : the English version is available in English bookstores.

South Korea, April 16th, 2014; the Sewol shipwreck cost the life of 304 people, most of them teenagers on a school trip. An huge scandal that highlights multiple failings, especially in the organization of coastguards. 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 held 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 the time of a globalized crisis when Taiwan's singular voice is beginning to be heard, Formosana, this collection of short stories, allows French readers to understand the historical and social trajectory of this island whose situation stands out in the concert of nation-states. Literature thus appears the ideal medium for exploring what the Taiwanese experience has to offer to the world. At ta time when speech is increasingly reduced to its bare minimum (a sentence, a tweet, a post), the written word, through illustrating the complexity of society and the world, grows more essential than ever. In this anthology, arranged by Gwennaël Gaffric, ten texts by different authors, all representative of the modern Taiwanese literary scene are compiled, all written after 1987, addressing various facets of Taiwanese history and society: its political history (the Japanese colonization, the events of 28 February 1947, the White Terror, the "non-party" movement, the lifting of martial law, the democratization of the country and so on) and its social history (aboriginal movements, workers, feminists, LGBT, students, environmentalists…).

Drawing on Tibetan and Chinese literature, travellers' accounts and the work of numerous researchers, Rolf Alfred Stein (1911-1999) presents here the abundant wealth of Tibetan civilisation in all its various aspects: habitat and population, history, social organization, religion and custom, arts and literature. HHis aim is to give, through a selection of subjects, documents and facts, a general and significant view that will allow the reader to apprehend a universe where the sacred and the profane mingle in every gesture, in every sound, in every journey. The book, first published in 1962 and then revised by the author in 1987, is a particularly valuable reference book at a time when the Tibetans are facing a serious threat to the preservation of their ancestral way of life and their unique cultural traditions. Rolf A. Stein, professor at the Collège de France, held the chair of Chinese World Studies, Institutions and Concepts from 1966 to 1981, and is the author of numerous works, including the Tibetan Epic of Gesar in its Lamaistic version of Ling (1956) and The World in Small, Miniature Gardens and Dwellings in Far Eastern Religious Thought (1987). As a tribute to Rolf A. Stein and on the occasion of the centenary of his birth (June 13, 1911), this new edition ends with the In memoriam that Mrs. Kuo Liying, Director of Studies at the EFEO, has dedicated to this great scholar, and which was published in the Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie II (1999-2000).