Hualing Nieh Engle
Encyclopedia
Hualing Nieh Engle is a Chinese novelist, fiction writer, and poet. She is a professor emerita at the University of Iowa
.
administration, was executed by Mao Zedong's
Red Army during the civil war in the 1930s.
In 1948, she graduated with a degree in English from the Western Languages Department of National Central University
. Following the communist revolution in China, she and her family relocated to Taiwan.
She also began to teach creative writing courses at National Taiwan University
and Tunghai University
, becoming the first faculty member to do so in Chinese.
She met Paul Engle
, then director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, while he was visiting Taiwan to research the contemporary literary scene in Asia. He invited her to attend the Writers' Workshop. As the political climate grew worse in Taiwan, she was placed under surveillance and prevented from publishing. She decided to accept Engle’s invitation and arrived in Iowa City in 1964 with seven books already published.
In 1966, after receiving her Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction from the Writers' Workshop, she suggested to Engle, then retiring from the Workshop, that they start a writing program solely for international writers. Their joint plan was to invite published writers from all over the world to Iowa City to hone their craft, exchange ideas, and create cross-cultural friendships. With support from the University of Iowa and a private grant, the first group of international writers convened in Iowa City in 1967 as the first participants in the International Writing Program
(IWP). They were married in 1971.
With Engle as director and Nieh Engle as assistant director and then associate director, the International Writing Program grew into a recognized residency for literary artists. As an active editor, Nieh Engle sought to introduce little-known Chinese literary trends emerging even in the middle of the Cultural Revolution. She and Engle translated and edited a collection of Mao Zedong's poems. This was followed by a two-volume scholarly collection, Literature of the Hundred Flowers, which she edited and co-translated.
In 1976, to honor their role in promoting exchange among international artists, 300 writers advanced the Engles for the Nobel Peace Prize
. The pair was officially nominated by US Ambassador at Large Averill Harriman. In 1979 they coordinated a “Chinese Weekend,” one of the very first encounters between writers from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the diaspora after 1949
.
Nieh Engle continued as the director of the International Writing Program (IWP) after Engle’s retirement in 1977. She retired in 1988, and currently serves as a member of the IWP Advisory Board.
She has traveled extensively in Asia and Europe and has lectured at major universities in the United States as well as many leading universities in China. At the University of Iowa, she was co-director of the Translation Workshop from 1975 to 1988. She has received several honorary doctorates as well as an award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the State of Iowa and the National Association of Governors in 1982. The Chinese magazine Asia Weekly named her novel Sang ch'ing yu t'ao hung (Mulberry and Peach) as one of the top 100 Chinese novels of the 20th century.
Alongside her administrative and editorial work, Nieh Engle has maintained an active literary career. She is the author of more than two dozen books, written in Chinese and widely translated, including novels, essay collections, collections of stories, translations, and edited works. These include Mulberry and Peach, which, in its English translation (Mulberry and Peach: Two Women of China), won an American Book Award in 1990; Thirty Years Later (San shih nien hou); Black, the Most Beautiful Color (Hei she, he she, tsui mei li ti yen she); and People in the Twentieth Century (Jen tsai erh shih shih chi). Her most recent novel in Chinese, Far Away, a River (Qian shan wai, shui chang liu), depicts one of the themes that are often reflected in her novels: the search for identity and roots. Her memoir, Images of Three Lives, a picture-essay book, chronicles her experiences in China, Taiwan and the United States.
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
.
Early life and education
In 1936, Nieh Engle’s father, an official of the Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
administration, was executed by Mao Zedong's
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
Red Army during the civil war in the 1930s.
In 1948, she graduated with a degree in English from the Western Languages Department of National Central University
National Central University
National Central University is a national comprehensive university in Taiwan .National Central University was founded in 1915 and originated in 258 CE at Nanjing, China. After NCU in Nanjing was renamed Nanjing University in 1949, NCU was re-established in Taiwan in 1962...
. Following the communist revolution in China, she and her family relocated to Taiwan.
Career
In Taiwan, Nieh Engle became the literary editor and a member of the editorial board of Free China, a liberal intellectual magazine. She served in these positions until 1960, when the magazine was closed down by the Chiang Kai-shek administration.She also began to teach creative writing courses at National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University is a national co-educational university located in Taipei, Republic of China . In Taiwan, it is colloquially known as "Táidà" . Its main campus is set upon 1,086,167 square meters in Taipei's Da'an District. In addition, the university has 6 other campuses in Taiwan,...
and Tunghai University
Tunghai University
Tunghai University was founded by Methodist missionaries in 1955 as a comprehensive university. It is a top-ranked private school and a leading institution in Taiwan. Moreover, Tunghai University was founded as the first private university making it the second oldest university in Taiwan, which...
, becoming the first faculty member to do so in Chinese.
She met Paul Engle
Paul Engle
Paul Engle , noted American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is perhaps best remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as founder of the International Writing Program , both at the University of Iowa.-Life:Engle is often mistakenly...
, then director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, while he was visiting Taiwan to research the contemporary literary scene in Asia. He invited her to attend the Writers' Workshop. As the political climate grew worse in Taiwan, she was placed under surveillance and prevented from publishing. She decided to accept Engle’s invitation and arrived in Iowa City in 1964 with seven books already published.
In 1966, after receiving her Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction from the Writers' Workshop, she suggested to Engle, then retiring from the Workshop, that they start a writing program solely for international writers. Their joint plan was to invite published writers from all over the world to Iowa City to hone their craft, exchange ideas, and create cross-cultural friendships. With support from the University of Iowa and a private grant, the first group of international writers convened in Iowa City in 1967 as the first participants in the International Writing Program
International Writing Program
The International Writing Program is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa. Since its inception in 1967, the IWP has hosted over 1,100 emerging and established poets, novelists, dramatists, essayists, and journalists from more than 120 countries...
(IWP). They were married in 1971.
With Engle as director and Nieh Engle as assistant director and then associate director, the International Writing Program grew into a recognized residency for literary artists. As an active editor, Nieh Engle sought to introduce little-known Chinese literary trends emerging even in the middle of the Cultural Revolution. She and Engle translated and edited a collection of Mao Zedong's poems. This was followed by a two-volume scholarly collection, Literature of the Hundred Flowers, which she edited and co-translated.
In 1976, to honor their role in promoting exchange among international artists, 300 writers advanced the Engles for the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. The pair was officially nominated by US Ambassador at Large Averill Harriman. In 1979 they coordinated a “Chinese Weekend,” one of the very first encounters between writers from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the diaspora after 1949
History of the People's Republic of China
The history of the People's Republic of China details the history of mainland China since October 1, 1949, when, after a near complete victory by the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China from atop Tiananmen...
.
Nieh Engle continued as the director of the International Writing Program (IWP) after Engle’s retirement in 1977. She retired in 1988, and currently serves as a member of the IWP Advisory Board.
She has traveled extensively in Asia and Europe and has lectured at major universities in the United States as well as many leading universities in China. At the University of Iowa, she was co-director of the Translation Workshop from 1975 to 1988. She has received several honorary doctorates as well as an award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the State of Iowa and the National Association of Governors in 1982. The Chinese magazine Asia Weekly named her novel Sang ch'ing yu t'ao hung (Mulberry and Peach) as one of the top 100 Chinese novels of the 20th century.
Alongside her administrative and editorial work, Nieh Engle has maintained an active literary career. She is the author of more than two dozen books, written in Chinese and widely translated, including novels, essay collections, collections of stories, translations, and edited works. These include Mulberry and Peach, which, in its English translation (Mulberry and Peach: Two Women of China), won an American Book Award in 1990; Thirty Years Later (San shih nien hou); Black, the Most Beautiful Color (Hei she, he she, tsui mei li ti yen she); and People in the Twentieth Century (Jen tsai erh shih shih chi). Her most recent novel in Chinese, Far Away, a River (Qian shan wai, shui chang liu), depicts one of the themes that are often reflected in her novels: the search for identity and roots. Her memoir, Images of Three Lives, a picture-essay book, chronicles her experiences in China, Taiwan and the United States.
Books in Chinese
- Creeper, novella (1953)
- Jade Cat, short stories (1959)
- The Lost Golden Bell, novel (1960)
- A Small White Flower, short stories (1963)
- The Valley of Dreams, essays (1965)
- Mulberry and Peach, novel (1976)
- Several Blessings of Wang Ta-nien, short stories (1980)
- Stories of Taiwan, selected short stories (1980)
- After Thirty Years, essays (1980)
- Iowa Notes, essays (1983)
- Black, Black, The Most Beautiful Color, essays (1983)
- Lotus (or Far Away, a River), novel (1984)
- A Selection of Taiwan Stories (editor; 1984)
- People in the Twentieth Century, essays (1990)
- Human Scenery and Natural Scenery, selected essays (1986)
- Far Away, A River, novel (1996)
- Tales from the Deer Garden, essays (1996)
- Three Lives, memoir (2004)
- Images of the Three Lives, picture-essay memoir in traditional Chinese character (2007)
- Images of the Three Lives, picture-essay memoir in simplified Chinese character (2008)
Books in English (and translations)
- The Purse, short stories in English (1959); translated into Portuguese (1967)
- A Critical Biography of Shen Ts'ung-wen, in English (Twanye Publishers, 1972)
- Two Women of China, novel translated into English (1985), Croatian (1986), and Hungarian (1987)
- Mulberry and Peach translated into English (1986), Dutch (1988) and Korean (1990)
Books translated into Chinese
- Madame de Mauves, Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
(1959) - Selected American Stories (includes works by William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
, Stephen CraneStephen CraneStephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism...
, Willa CatherWilla CatherWilla Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
, Sherwood AndersonSherwood AndersonSherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, J. D. Salinger, and Amos Oz.-Early life:Anderson was born in Clyde, Ohio,...
, Walter Van Tilburg ClarkWalter Van Tilburg ClarkWalter Van Tilburg Clark was an American novelist, short story writer, and educator. He ranks as one of Nevada's most distinguished literary figures of the 20th century and is known primarily for his novels, his one volume of stories, as well as his uncollected short stories...
, Stephen Benet, and F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
, among others) (1960)
Books translated into English
- Eight Stories by Chinese Women (1963)
- Poems of Mao Tse-tung (with Paul Engle) (1972)
- Literature of the Hundred Flower (editor, co-translator) (1981)
Poetry Translation Series (co-edited with Paul Engle and the translator of each language)
- Contemporary Korean Poetry (1970)
- Modern Chinese Poetry (1970)
- The Last Romantic: Mihail Eminescu (1972)
- The Poetry of Postwar Japan (1975)
- Writing from the World (1976)
- Modern Bulgarian Poetry (1978)
- Lev Mak, Out of the Night and Other Poems (1978)
- Vasco Popa: Selected Poems (1978)
- Nichita Stanescu, The Still Unborn about the Dead (1978)
- Russian Poetry: The Modern Period (1978)
- Contemporary Yugoslav Poetry (1978)
Awards
- Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Colorado (1981)
- Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Dubuque (1981)
- Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts, National Association of Governors (1982)
- Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Coe College (1983)
- Award for Fiction, American Book AwardAmerican Book AwardThe American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
(1990), for Mulberry and Peach: Two Women of China - Medal of Merit for Cultural Service, Ministry of Culture, Poland (1992)
- Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Hong Kong Baptist University (2009)
- Best Chinese Writing in the World, Sin Chew Jit Poh, Malaysia (2009)
Honors
- Member of the International Advisory Board, Translation Center, Columbia University (1984–85)
- Member of the Advisory Board of the Chinese literary magazine Four Seas, China
- Judge, Neustadt International Prize for Literature, USA (1981–82)
- Advisory Professorship, Fudan University, Shanghai, China (1984)
- Honorary Professorship, Beijing Institute of Communications, Beijing, China (1986)
- Advisor, Pegasus International Prize for Fiction, USA (1989–90)
- Inducted into Iowa Women's Hall of Fame (2008)