1st Taiwan translation of Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time' set for Oct.

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) Nearly a century after the last volume of "In Search of Lost Time" appeared, Taiwan will finally have a complete Chinese translation of Marcel Proust's modernist classic in October.

The new Chinese translation of "In Search of Lost Time" is based directly on the French text and will be released in paperback on Oct. 2, with a hardcover edition to follow later in the month, Linking Publishing told CNA on Thursday.

The seven-volume novel was first translated into English as "Remembrance of Things Past" from the original French title "À la recherche du temps perdu." It unfolds as a stream-of-consciousness narrative in which the narrator recalls his experiences of French high society from the late 19th to the early 20th century, featuring more than 2,000 characters.

Linking published Taiwan's first Traditional-Chinese edition in 1992, but it was essentially an adaptation of a Simplified Chinese translation.

According to a press release, the upcoming translation is the result of a four-year project coordinated by Wu Kun-Yung (吳坤墉), former president of the Association Taïwanaise des Traducteurs de Français (ATTF), and involving seven Taiwanese translators, each handling one volume, for a total of more than two million words.

The translators are Chiu Jui-luan (邱瑞鑾), Chen Wen-yao (陳文瑤), Hsu Yawen (許雅雯), Shih Wu-ken (石武耕), Chen Yu-wen (陳郁雯), Ma Siang-yang (馬向陽), and Lin Te-yu (林德祐).

All the translators involved have devoted at least one to two decades to translation work and have been nominated multiple times for the ATTF-BNP Paribas Translation Prize (Prix de la Traduction ATTF-BNP PARIBAS) -- one of the major awards for local French translators -- including three past winners.

"Translating Proust is a challenging yet meaningful task. 'À la recherche du temps perdu' stands as a symbolic milestone for every French-language translator," Wu was cited as saying by the publisher. He said it was precisely the difficulty of Proust's writing that made the translators eager to take up the challenge.

According to the release, Lin Te-yu found numerous mistranslated passages when consulting the previous edition, which he attributed to the author's notoriously complex prose.

"Proust's work is always waiting on the horizon, and it merits an updated rendition in a new language from time to time," Lin said, adding that the new translation aims to bring readers closer to the original.

To help readers better navigate Proust's world, Linking has also invited five experts from the fields of music, literature, history, art, and food to contribute a reader's guide to accompany the seven-volume set.