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About the Author & Illustrator

Short Tongue is the Singaporean Chinese poet Wang Mun Kiat’s second collection of poetry, representing a distinct change in style from his previous work. The poems in this collection are deceptively short and seemingly simple, but they belie deep reservoirs of irony, wit and social commentary. The title, Short Tongue, hints at an ambiguity and a refusal to define oneself. You can think of each poem as a dagger — that both wounds and tickles. This bilingual edition is published in simplified Chinese and English, in hopes of bringing Wang Mun Kiat’s surprising poetry to a new audience of readers, as well as promoting exchanges between the different language literatures in Singapore.

《短舌》的黄文杰诗风转变之作，以精短凝练的文字，让读者拨云见月。顾名思义，“短舌”可指涉口齿不清、沟通障碍，无以自辩等，因此每首诗形成了它独一无二的逻辑，也变成近距离发射的飞刀——中刀时有点刺痛，却也能令人会心一笑。本次以简体华文与英文（双语对照版）出版，希望给更多的读者惊喜，以及拓展新加坡文学的多元可能与想象。
“Living up to its title, Short Tongue is a collection of brief yet pointed poems, mixing wry observations of daily life with more trenchant political commentary. Daryl Lim Wei Jie’s translations dance fluidly around Wang Mun Kiat’s sharp, playful verses; placing both versions side by side allows an unimpeded view of the interplay of poem and translation, of the dialogue between poet and translator. A frisky collection that revels in absurdity and makes mischief with language.”

“《短舌》名副其实，言简精巧、入木三分，且夹杂了日常生活里的细微洞察，以及尖锐的政治讽喻。译者林伟杰的译文流畅地围绕着诗人黄文杰的调皮、尖锐诗句起舞；而中英双语并列的方式，使读者一目了然，互相衬托，好比是诗人和译者间的对话。这本鬼灵精的诗集，无疑以揭示荒谬与逗弄语文为乐！”
—Jeremy Tiang, Writer and Translator | 程异，作家、翻译家

“Reading Daryl Lim Wei Jie’s translations of Wang Mun Kiat’s poetry can be described in many ways – profound, insightful, challenging (in a good way), and most of all, fun. Lim has found the ideal point to focus on in his work, drawing out the wry humour of the original so that the poetry is allowed to breathe in its new context, just as it does in the original. It is masterful work – precisely the sort of thing I hope to see covering Singapore’s literary landscape. My hope is that more poets in Singapore will take note of what Lim has done in this translation and join him in his engagement with the rich body of SingLit across our languages. It is such a delight to read Short Tongue, and I am eagerly watching to see what comes next as Lim continues to stretch his translator’s wings.”

“阅读林伟杰翻译黄文杰的《短舌》，可谓之是深刻、有真知灼见、且意味深长，最重要的是趣味性！伟杰找到了作品的中心思想，并刻画出原诗中的讽刺意味与幽默感，让译作在新的语境里找到了“呼吸”的空间，如原诗那般。无疑，这是一部好作品——也正是我预见“新加坡文学”能覆盖到的新景观。我真切希望新加坡有更多诗人能关注伟杰为翻译付出的用心，并与他携手丰富不同语文书写的“新加坡文学”。阅读《短舌》是种舒畅的喜悦，同时，也希望看见伟杰接下来能在翻译界里翱翔。”
—Shelly Bryant, Writer and Translator | 白雪丽，作家、翻译家

“Bilingualism is the art of juggling two worldviews, ripe with pitfalls for misunderstandings and opportunities for serendipitous connection. This book is an excellent exemplar. In between proficient translations, such happenstances illuminate this bilingual edition of Wang Mun Kiat’s Short Tongue. The original poems are aphorisms distilled in modern, largely colloquial Chinese – Wang’s urbane sensibility reflects a clear-eyed perspective on 21st-century living, while still leveraging on the language’s inherent pithiness. Daryl Lim Wei Jie’s English-language translations mirror much of Wang’s revelry in ambivalence, staccato pacing, and particularly its killer wit. Significantly, processing the original and the translation side by side affords fruitful comparison – in a quartet entitled ‘Modern Book of Revelation’, one espies the chasm between Wang’s rhythmic and rhyming schema, and Lim’s valiant attempt to echo it; the moat, if you will. And so you swim leisurely in it, between these two worlds – admiring the satirical Sino-wordplay and then chuckling at the expository Anglo equivalent. What’s shed, what’s gained? You decide.”

““双语”是一门兼顾两种世界观的艺术，期间不乏有许多沉积已久的误解，也有偶然灵光乍现的（契机）通联。本诗集便是最佳例子。游刃于熟练的翻译间，这般“偶然乍现”为黄文杰的双语版《短舌》散发出光芒。原作充满了对于现代化高度提炼出来的警示，且是通俗、口语化的——他的诗情，反映了他对 21 世纪生活方式的敏锐洞察，同时，也将生活化的语言处理得简洁明快。译者林伟杰的英译，则精确地烘托出文杰内心的矛盾、“短句式”节奏，还有原诗中那难以转化的机智灵敏。值得注意的是，原作与译作左右并列，提供了非常有深度的对比效果，其中一部“四重奏”〈现代启示录〉中，译者发觉到了原作难以模拟的节奏、韵律模式，并大胆地试图临摹；一着不慎，则容易落入湍流的译河中。但伟杰却遨游于其中，游移在这两个世界里——欣赏着华文带出的调皮文字游戏（双关语、谐音、典故等），然后对英文里相映衬的描述窃笑。“舍与得之间，如何抉择？由你来决定。”
—Yeow Kai Chai, author of One to the Dark Tower Comes | 姚家才《向黑暗之塔迎来》
Wang Mun Kiat is a Singaporean writer born in 1967. He is currently an engineer and lives in Bangkok, Thailand. Wang came into contact with poetry and writing in the 1980s. His works were mostly published in Singapore’s literary journals and Lianhe Zaobao. Wang was awarded the Singapore Golden Point Award in 2013, and was shortlisted for the Singapore Literary Award in 2014. His poetry collection includes Not Yet Midnight and Short Tongue.

黄文杰，1967年生，新加坡人，现为工程师，于泰国曼谷定居。80年代开始接触诗歌创作，作品多见于新加坡文学杂志和《联合早报》副刊。 2013年获颁新加坡金笔奖，2014年入围新加坡文学奖。著有诗集《夜未央》与《短舌》。

Daryl Lim Wei Jie is a poet, translator and literary critic from Singapore. His latest collection of poetry is Anything but Human (2021), which was shortlisted for the 2022 Singapore Literature Prize. His poetry won him the Golden Point Award for English Poetry in 2015. His work has been featured in POETRY Magazine, Poetry Daily, The Southwest Review and elsewhere.

林伟杰，是新加坡（英语）诗人、译者与文学评论者。最新诗集《Anything but Human》（除了人，2021）入选2022年新加坡文学奖；曾获2015年新加坡金笔奖（英文诗歌组）。作品刊登于《POETRY》（诗歌）杂志、《Poetry Daily》（诗歌日志），及《The Southwest Review》（西南评论季刊）等。

Authors

Short Tongue (Bilingual Edition)《短舌（双语版）》