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Linda Jaivin (born 27 March 1955) is an American-born Australian sinologist, translator and novelist.

Early life

Linda Jaivin was born in New London, Connecticut, to a Jewish family of Russian heritage. Her grandfathers were Jewish refugees from Tsarist Russia, who emigrated to Argentina and the United States.

Her interest in China led her to undertake Chinese studies at Brown University in Rhode Island. She moved to Taiwan in 1977 to deepen her knowledge of Chinese culture and language. Moving to Hong Kong in 1979, her first job there was editing textbooks for Oxford University Press. She worked for Asiaweek magazine, where she met the Australian scholar Geremie Barmé, whom she later married.

They returned to Canberra, Australia in 1986. They divorced in 1994. She now lives in Sydney.

Work

Jaivin has written a memoir of her experiences as a translator in China, The Monkey and the Dragon, as well as a number of novels. She co-edited an anthology on dissident writers in China, New Ghosts, Old Dreams: Chinese Rebel Voices with Geremie Barmé, in 1992. Jaivin has contributed to a number of magazines including the Australian magazine of politics and culture, The Monthly. She wrote for the Quarterly Essay Found in Translation: In Praise of a Plural World in November 2013.

She has subtitled many Chinese films, including Farewell my Concubine and The Grandmaster.

Jaivin has been a guest on the ABC radio program The Book Show and a panelist on Q&A and other programs.

Bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (July 2017)

Novels

Non-fiction

• Jaivin, Linda (August 2014). "The rising tide of narcissism". Arts & Letters. Books. The Monthly. 103: 50–51. Retrieved 22 April 2020. Review of Anne Manne's The Life of I.

Films (as sub-titler)

• Farewell My Concubine (Chen Kaige, 1993)
• Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)
• The Grandmaster (Wong Kar-wai, 2013)

References

1. ^ The Bibliography of Australian Literature: F–J. Retrieved 19 December 2013. Note: Jaivin has advised of a typographical error: "27 May" should read "27 March". This agrees with a statement made on her own website: "Linda Jaivin – Stuff I Like". Archived from the original on 25 January 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
2. Bio, author's web site
3. Linda Jaivin, "Inspiration from behind the wire", The Age, 6 May 2006, p. 14
4. ^ Linda Morris, Interview with Linda Jaivin, The Age, 12 April 2014, Spectrum, p. 30
5. Nikki Barrowclough, "Made in China", The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 2001, Good Weekend, p. 35
6. Georgina Safe, "Adventures of a literary voyeur", The Weekend Australian, 18–19 September 1999, Review, p. 10
7. "Tanks! Tanks! (You're most welcome) - Film - Entertainment - theage.com.au". www.theage.com.au. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
8. The Book Show, ABC Radio National
9. China: Jianying Zha, Linda Jaivin and Paul French (television interview)
10. Party Time: Living and Working in China (television interview)

External links

• Official website
• Jaivin is a member of The Australian Society of Authors

• Biography
• Literature

• Living people
• 1955 births
• 20th-century Australian novelists
• 20th-century translators
• 20th-century Australian women writers
• 21st-century Australian novelists
• 21st-century American translators
• 21st-century Australian women writers
• American emigrants to Australia
• Australian columnists
• Australian translators
• Australian women novelists
• Jewish Australian writers
• Chinese–English translators
• American subtitlers
• The Monthly people
• Australian women columnists
• Writers from Connecticut
• Grunge lit authors
• American sinologists
• Australian sinologists
• Writers about China
• Women orientalists
• Jewish women writers
• Jewish translators
• Jewish novelists