Selected authors from Africa, Asia, Latin America & Arabia

In France, there has been a long tradition of publishing translations from many languages. In the 18th century, a Chinese play translated into Latin by a Jesuit inspired Voltaire into writing his own version in French (L'orphelin de la Chine), which in its turn was quickly translated into English, and performed in New-Amsterdam/New-York. A couple of decades ago, as an experiment, the Chinese performed the Chinese original and the French adaptation on a two-tier stage to a Chinese audience who understood French. The Chinese play was performed on the upper stage. Each scene was first performed in Chinese, then the French version tailed it, also performed by Chinese actors.