Göran Malmqvist

Professor Nils Göran David Malmqvist ( _zh. 馬悅然, _sv. Nils Göran David Malmqvist) (born June 6 1924) is a Swedish linguist, member of the Swedish Academy ("Chair No.5"), literary historian, sinologist and translator.

Biography

Göran Malmqvist was born in 1924 in Jönköping. Following introductory studies of Chinese under Sinologist Bernhard Karlgren at Stockholm University, Malmqvist studied in China in 1948 - 1950. He then returned to Stockholm, taking a Licentiate of Arts degree in 1951. His international research career started shortly thereafter with a lectureship in Chinese at the University of London in 1953 - 1955. He was then appointed Swedish cultural attaché in Peking and worked in China in 1956 –1958.

Academic career

After his years in China he moved to Australia in 1958, where he worked for seven years at the Australian National University in Canberra. After some important essays on Chinese language history he was appointed Professor of Chinese at the university in 1961. During his professorship at the Australian National University, Malmqvist published academic articles on both old Chinese and modern Chinese. The articles concerned "e.g." phonological issues and literary dialects during the Han dynasty, the syntax of bound forms in Sïchuanese and western Mandarin phonology.

Writing and translation

In 1965, Malmqvist was called to Stockholm as Professor of Sinology, particularly Modern Chinese, at the newly-established Section of Chinese in the Department of Oriental Languages at Stockholm University. Back in Stockholm, his career as a translator also began, with a series of interpretations of Tang Dynasty lyrics in the anthology "Det förtätade ögonblicket" (The compact moment) [Göran Malmqvist, "Det förtätade ögonblicket" (The compacted moment), Stockholm : Forum, 1965] . Malmqvist has since translated 42 volumes of Chinese literature from different epochs. From that point on, Malmqvist was to appear as an all-round expert on China. He combines broad surveys of Chinese history, religion, politics and geography with increasingly multifarious work as a translator. In this capacity he moves freely between different historical periods, different Chinese languages, different literary genres.

In 1971, Malmqvist published several textbooks including "Nykinesisk grammatik" (Grammar of Modern Chinese) and "Nykinesisk fonetik" (Phonetics of Modern Chinese), a number of translations, chiefly in the academic journal "Orientaliska studier" (Oriental studies), and the large section on "Chinese literature 500–1779" in the joint Nordic "Litteraturens världshistoria" (World history of literature). This was followed in 1973 with the section on "The literature of China 1780–1890" and "Chinese literature 1890–1965". The same year he published the translation of Lao She’s short stories in "Det sorgsna skrattet" (The sorrowful laugh) [Lao She, "Det sorgsna skrattet", Stockholm : Forum, 1972, ISBN 91-37-05185-7] . In 1974 Malmqvist published the popular volume "Kinesiska är inte svårt" (Chinese isn’t difficult) [Göran Malmqvist, "Kinesiska är inte svårt", Stockholm : Aldus, 1974, ISBN 91-0-039660-5] .

During the 1970s, he was also working on the translation of the over thousand page picaresque novel "Shui Hu zhuan". The Swedish title is "Berättelser från träskmarkerna" (Tales from the swamps) and the work appeared in four volumes between 1976 and 1979. The story, which was first written down in the 14th century, is clearly oral in character and gives a rich picture of the end of the Song dynasty, during the first few decades of the 12th century. Malmqvist’s achievement includes a further, monumental translation of a similar kind, the five volumes of "Färden till västern" (The journey to the West). Written down in the 16th century, the story of how in the 17th century the pilgrim Tripitaka brings the holy writings of Buddhism from India to China. During the 1970s and 1980s Malmqvist’s research turned chiefly to classical Chinese philology, syntax and semantics.

wedish Academy

Göran Malmqvist was elected to the Swedish Academy on April 11 1985 and admitted on December 20 1985. Malmqvist succeeded the literary historian Henry Olsson to Chair number 5. From the time after his election to the Swedish Academy, the over five-hundred page biography on his teacher Bernhard Karlgren is of particular note: "Bernhard Karlgren – ett forskarporträtt" in 1995; (Bernhard Karlgren – portrait of a scholar) [Göran Malmqvist, "Bernhard Karlgren : ett forskarporträtt", Stockholm : Norstedt, 1995, ISBN 91-1-955092-8] . Malmqvist here follows Karlgren's path through the pioneering era of Sinology from his early dialectological fieldwork in China in 1910–1912, which aimed at reconstructing the sound pattern of ancient Chinese.

Further reading

* Göran Malmqvist, A selective guide to Chinese literature, 1900-1949. 4 vol. Leiden, 1988-1990.
* Göran Malmqvist, Modern Chinese literature and its social context, Nobel Symposium, 32. Stockholm, 1977.
* Göran Malmqvist, "Problems and Methods in Chinese Linguistics", The Australian National University : Canberra, 1962. is a compact introduction to Chinese linguistics.
* Göran Malmqvist, "Bernhard Karlgren : ett forskarporträtt", Stockholm : Norstedt, 1995, ISBN 91-1-955092-8
* Göran Malmqvist, "Det förtätade ögonblicket" (The compacted moment), Stockholm : Forum, 1965
* Lao She, "Det sorgsna skrattet", Stockholm : Forum, 1972, ISBN 91-37-05185-7
* N.G.D. Malmqvist, "Kinesiska är inte svårt", Stockholm : Aldus, 1974, ISBN 91-0-039660-5
* Henry Olsson : inträdestal i Svenska akademien. Stockholm, 1985.

References

* "Stol nr 5 - Göran Malmqvist", Official biography by Jan Arnald, Swedish Academy : Stockholm, 2005.

Persondata
NAME=Malmqvist, Göran
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Malmqvist, Nils Göran David
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Swedish linguist and sinologist, Member of the Swedish Academy
DATE OF BIRTH=June 6 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH=Jönköping, Sweden
DATE OF DEATH=living
PLACE OF DEATH=