From one to another: the literary connection between Russia and China

Literature has time and time again enabled us to traverse boundaries, to connect to other cultures and to view different perspectives. The onset of the pandemic forced the cultural sector to shift its activity online. Realising this, both the China Cultural Centre in Malta (CCC) and the Russian Centre for Science and Culture (RCSC) aimed to innovate their ideas in order to reach new audiences. [attach id=897129 size="medium" align="right" type="image"][/attach] One of their projects involved introducing three writers to the Maltese, to provide a connection between the authors and to highlight their differences. These writers are Chinese author, essayist and literary critic Lu Xun and Russian writers Nikolai Gogol and Vsevolod Garshin. Besides his connection to the Russian authors, Lu Xun is currently the only Chinese author to be translated directly into Maltese. In 2003, his first collection of short stories, Call to Arms, was translated into Maltese by Clifford Borg-Marks under the name Is-Sejħa, and was later published by SKS with the help of Reno Calleja. Considered by many as the father of modern Chinese literature, Lu Xun was exposed to a plethora of literary works from...