Mabel Lee

Mabel Lee, is a translator of the works of Nobel Prize-winning author Gao Xingjian. She has also taught Asian studies at the University of Sydney and is one of Australia's leading authorities on Chinese cultural affairs. Lee was a professor of South-East Asian Studies at Sydney University and she had already begun translation of the poems of Chinese writer, Yang Lien when she met Gao Xingjian, in Paris in 1991. After that meeting, Lee offered to translate "Soul Mountain", a project which took seven years, and an additional two to find a publisher for the book in Australia. Following publication, Gao Xingjuan became the first Chinese to win a Nobel Prize in Literature.Cite web|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADDE7A56571611&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Nobel in Literature Awarded to Chinese Dissident|accessdate=2008-06-13|year=2000-10-13|author=Mark Feeney|work=The Boston Globe]

Lee's translation won the 2001 NSW "Premier's Translation Prize" despite criticism about the book, and her translation's quality.Cite web|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2001/02/02/72054/print|title=Modern Form Can't Hide Bad Prose|accessdate=2008-06-13|year=2001-02-02|author=Cao Chang-Ching|work=Taipei Times] Cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998738,00.html|title=Lost in the Translation|accessdate=2008-06-13|year=2000-12-11|author=Paul Gray|work=Time] After her retirement from teaching, she translated another of Gao's novels, "One Man's Bible" as well as a short-story collection and a book of his essays.Cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/Books/An-accent-on-accuracy/2005/02/11/1108061845072.html|title=An Accent on Accuracy|accessdate=2008-06-13|year=2005-02-12|author=Jane Sullivan|work=The Age]

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