1 RECENT CHINESE TRANSLATIONS OF (mostly) AMERICAN FICTION Farley P. Katz A few years ago, I noticed that some of my favorite books had been translated recently in China. A number are popular works which were unsurprising to see translated, such as Catch-22, The Master and Margarita, and Name of the Rose. Some were modern classics that must have been a major undertaking to translate such as Gravity’s Rainbow(!) or Ulysses(!!). But there were titles that seemed unlikely candidates such as Kerouac’s On the Road or Chandler’s The Big Sleep or Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo. And then there were some really obscure titles such as Cold Comfort Farm and Oola-Boola’s Wonder Book. Naturally, I started a collection of these titles and here they are so far: 1. Thomas Pynchon. V. 2003. Yilin. Hard cover. 2. ----- The Crying of Lot 49. 2018. Yilin. Hard cover w/dj. 3. ----- Gravity’s Rainbow. 2020. Penguin Classics/Yilin. 4. Jean Potocki. The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. 2020. HNWY. 2 Vols. Paper. 5. Jack Kerouac. On the Road. 2006/10. Jiwen. Paper. 6. ----- Dharma Bums. With 34-page pamphlet containing photos, images and poems with page references to the text. 2020/21. Zuojiabang. Paper. 7. ----- Big Sur. 2014. Yiwen. Paper. 8. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein. N.d. N.p. Paper.