A review by tigerlillymelody
The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories by Regina Kanyu Wang, Yu Chen

3.0

A diverse collection of SFF short stories and essays from Chinese authors of marginalized genders. Not every story was for me (sometimes literally as some stories were translated intentionally in a way that alienated Western readers without a background in Chinese culture/literature to maintain integrity of the text and create a less othering experience for those in the Chinese diaspora), but overall I really appreciated the text, especially as often collected works in translation only collect the most mainstream and prestigious authors and those of us who belong to less mainstream communities are not often exposed to the works and thoughts of people in communities like ours in other countries. My favorite story was about the disabled actress who taught the plants in her garden to perform Cats! I also loved the essay near the end of the book discussing the intersection of electronic literature and the rise of popularity and prominence of female authors and readers. Also I picked up this book somehow not realizing that translator Rebecca F. Kuang is the same person as fantasy author R.F. Kuang (I discovered this book as a fan of cover artist Feifei Ruan and not through a connection to an author or translator) and by complete happenstance was already reading this book when to my surprise I was at the front of the library queue for Kuang's new novel about a translators' revolution in Victorian England. It was pretty bonkers in a great way to hear both a story she had translated and an essay from her about her relationship with translation and how it has informed her work while simultaneously reading her opus on language, translation, and imperialism. Considering that there are 143 people in line behind me for Babel after it has been out for less than a week, I am guessing this is going to be one of the more popular books of 2022, so if you are reading this review and you loved Babel and are interested in further exploring some of the concepts discussed in the text, this would be a good companion.