DL/A-Z//CHENG - [Correspondence with Crystal Cheng]

DL/A-Z//CHENG

File

[Correspondence with Crystal Cheng]

1993-08/12/1998

4 Letters (typescript)
1 Photographs (colour)
1 Greetings cards

Cheng, Huiqin

001 is a photograph of Crystal Cheng [Cheng Huiqin] and Doris Lessing, taken in China in 1993.

002 is Cheng's card as an employee of the Chinese Writers' Association.

003 is a letter from Cheng to Lessing. She reintroduces herself as Lessing's former companion in China and requests that she translate Lessing's The Golden Notebook. She claims to have established contact with the Publishing House of China Federation of Art and Literary Circles [publishers] and "Wang Mong" [Wang Meng?], who will provide a Chinese-language preface. She mentions that a pirate version of The Golden Notebook exists [see DL/A-Z//CHEN C], and states that she hopes to correct its errors. She mentions that the royalties are likely to be very low. She says she is translating Lessing's "the first chapter of Free Woman [Free Women, from The Golden Notebook]".

004 is a letter from Lessing to Jonathan Clowes, referring to Cheng's letter: "Here is a letter I am very pleased to get." She approves of Cheng as a translator and of Wang Meng, and forwards Cheng's address.

005 is a letter from Lessing to Cheng: "Dear Crystal – that is you, Crystal, isn't it?" She accepts Cheng's offer to translate The Golden Notebook, and mentions that the main difficulty will be in conveying the different styles and tones of voice in it.

006 is a letter from Cheng to Lessing. She apologises for the delays in translating, blaming "the internal readjustment in Taiwan's Times Publishing Company". She states that it has been difficult to get a publisher due to copyright laws, but that she has found one in Times Publishing Group. She mentions her reservations about finding an appropriate proofreader [perhaps indicating she prefers it not be proofed?].