Modern Mongolian literature

[holyschist]

Not such a specific question, but I'm interested in modern (defined loosely as "anything post-17th-century) Mongolian literature and poetry, either written in or translated into English (alas for my monolinguality!). Novels, poetry, short stories, whatever! Extra bonus points if it involves Queen Manduhai (Mandukhai, Manduqai) in some way.

I just don't know where to start looking.

Comments

[livrelibre]

You might find a start in History of Mongolian literature, 1921-1964 by L Gerasimovich, Far Eastern literatures in the 20th century : a guide, K'uei hsing : a repository of Asian literature in translation and The Secret history of the Mongols and western literature. There's also Three fateful hills.

And these might be before the 17th century but just in case: Mongolian traditional literature : an anthology and The sutra of the wise and the foolish

[holyschist]

Oof. Good thing I still have access to an academic library! I'll see if I can get any of those.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[troisroyaumes]

Thanks for asking this question because I'm interested in the answer! (Also, I noticed you post a fair bit about Mongolian history/language in your journal; hope you don't mind my suddenly subscribing.)

[holyschist]

Not at all! But the posting about Mongolian history/language is very sporadic, I'm afraid.

[holyschist]

Er, and I should note that I'm not at all Mongolian myself.

[foxfinial]

I'm going to Mongolia soon. If I remember, I'll note down any titles I see in bookstores. I'll probably buy one or two, as I've been trying to buy at least one local book per country I visit. (Would love a Mongolian-authored history book of Genghis Khan, but idk if they exist in English.)

Also, your journal looks interesting. I hope you don't mind the subscribe.

[holyschist]

Not at all!

Yeah, I have been (casually, because I'm kind of Genghised-out) looking for a Mongolian-authored history book and haven't found one yet. The closest I've come is Urgunge Onon's translation of Secret History of the Mongols, which is 1) expensive and 2) kind of linguistically weird in places, although a lot more readable than the more linguistically nitpicky ones (although still dry).

If you haven't read the SH yet and don't mind dry, Cleaves' translation is available free: http://altaica.ru/SECRET/cleaves_shI.pdf (Cleaves wasn't Mongolian and the translation is slightly outdated, but it's not bad). Pretty much every history of Genghis Khan depends heavily on the SH, and it's a really interesting read.