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Orient,whichsubsequentlytookoverthedutyofcaringforAngkorWatin
1907.ThisinfluenceencouragedKhmertranslationsofworksbyanumberof
Frenchphilosophersandwriters,amongthemMolière,Corneille,Alexandre
DumasandHectorMalot.
InVietnam,NguyenVanVinh’stranslationsofMolière’splaysbecame
availablein1915,followedbyPhamQuynh’stranslationsofCorneille’splaysin
1920.By1920NguyenVanVinh’stranslationofLeMaladeimaginairehad
beenstagedinHanoi.ThestaffsofthetwoperiodicalsDongduongtapchi
(1913–16)andNamPhongtapchi(July1917–December1934)produced
andpublishedtranslationsfromChineseandFrench,includingDescartes’
Discoursdelaméthode,Epictetus’Enchiridion(Manual),aswellas
Corneille’spoemsandPhamQuynh’stranslationsofhistragediesLeCidand
Horace.ThestaffofNamPhongalsotranslatedearlyVietnamesetextsin
Chineseandnomintoquocngu,forexampleHongDucquocamthitap
(CollectedPoemsoftheHongDucPeriod)andPhanHuyChu’sLichtrieu
hienchuongloaichi(RegulationsMadebytheVariousDynasties,Arrangedin
Categories).Dongduongtapchiranasectionentitled‘Selectionsfrom
FrenchliteraturetranslatedintoVietnamese’.NguyenTrongThuat,theeditor
ofDongduongtapchi,translatedanumberofFrenchnovelsincluding
AntoineFrançoisPrévost’sManonLescaut(1932),AlexandreDumas’Les
troismousquetaires(1921),andAlainRenéLesage’sGilBlas.Bythelate
1930s,theworksofWesternwriterssuchasBalzac,Flaubert,Dickens,
Tolstoy,RomainRolland,HenriBarbusse,AndréGide,Pascal,Dostoyevsky
andGoethewereavailabletoVietnamesereadersintranslation.
Similarly,inBurmaalargenumberofadaptedWesternnovelshadappearedby
1920,withfavouritesadoptingthemesofloveandadventure.ShweiUdaung
(1888–1974)wasamasteradaptorandtranslatorofVictorianfiction,including
worksbyRiderHaggard,ConanDoyle,G.W.M.Reynolds,Mrs.Henry
WoodandCharlesDickens.FictionwriterP.Monin(1883–1940)also
adaptedWesternbooksonsociologyandpsychology.In1937agroupof
RangoonUniversitystudentsestablishedtheRedDragonBookClubtopublish
translationsofMarxistclassics.Oneoftheirmembers,theyoungnationalistMa
Amar,translatedMauriceCollis’TrialsinBurma,publishedin1938,which
influencedthedevelopmentofnationalistliteratureinBurma.
WorldWarIIandafter
TheJapaneseOccupationofmuchofSoutheastAsiaandthesubsequent
gradualdismantlingofcolonialempiresledtothediscoveryandtranslationof
newliterarysources.ThesenowincludedRussian,Americanandother
Europeantextsnotpreviouslyavailableinparticularcolonies.
InVietnam,whilethewarwasstillraging,agroupofprogressiveFrench
educatedintellectualsstartedanewweekly,Thanhnghi,in1943.They
publishedtranslationsofnovelsbyFrench,English,American,Italianand
Chinesewriters,amongthemSomersetMaugham,PearlBuckandTs’aoYu.
From1945onwardsthereweremanytranslationsofRussianandChinese
worksonpoliticaltheoryandMarxisteconomicsundertheinfluenceofthe
VietnameseRepublic.IntheSouth,between1955and1963existenialismwas
popularizedthroughtranslationsappearinginvariousbooksandnewspapers.
TheBurmesegovernmentestablishedtheBurmaTranslationSocietyin1947,
whichprovidedtheimpetusfornewtranslations.ShweiUdaungcontinuedhis
tremendoustranslationactivity,includinghistranslationofMikhailSholokhov’s
AndQuietFlowstheDon.Sincethemilitarycoupin1962,thegovernment
hasexercisedstrictcensorshiponliteratureandtheproductionoftranslations.
Thishasnotstoppedthepopularizationofspynovelsandromance,represented
bythepopularfictionofMickeySpillaneandJamesHadleyChase.
ThenewtranslationsgaveSoutheastAsianwritersthechancetoexplorenew
literarystylesastheyworkedtocreatenew‘modern’literaturesintheirown
languages.InIndonesia,forexample,theinnovativeprosewriterIdrus
developedasparse,cynicalapproachtotheshortstory,whichwasinfluenced
byhisexposuretotheDutchwritersofthe1930s.TheanarchistpoetChairil
Anwarstudied(andplagiarized)T.S.Eliot,RilkeandtheDutchpoets
SlauerhoffandMarsmann.PramoedyaAnantaToer,whowastobecome
Indonesia’sgreatestprosewriterofthetwentiethcentury,learnedeagerlyfrom