“Translation and creation : readings of Western literature in early modern China, 1840-1918” (Publication, 1998)
Year
1998
Text
Translation and creation : readings of Western literature in early modern China, 1840-1918. Ed. by David E. Pollard. (Amsterdam : J. Benjamins, 1998). (Benjamins translation library ; vol. 25).
[Enthält] :
Cheung, Martha P.Y. The discourse of Occidentalism ? Wei Yi and Lin Shu's treatment of religious material in their translation of 'Uncle Tom's cabin' [by Harriet Beecher Stowe].
Xia, Xiaohong. Ms Picha and Mrs Stowe. (Pol4)
[Enthält] :
Cheung, Martha P.Y. The discourse of Occidentalism ? Wei Yi and Lin Shu's treatment of religious material in their translation of 'Uncle Tom's cabin' [by Harriet Beecher Stowe].
Xia, Xiaohong. Ms Picha and Mrs Stowe. (Pol4)
Type
Publication
Contributors (1)
Pollard, David E.
(Kingston upon Thames 1937-) : Professor of Chinese, University of London
Mentioned People (1)
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
(Lichfield, Conn. 1811-1896 Hartford, Conn.) : Schriftstellerin
Subjects
Literature : China - Occident
/
References / Sources
/
Sinology and Asian Studies : Europe : Great Britain
/
Translation : History and Theory
Chronology Entries (8)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1899 |
[Dumas, Alexandre fils]. Cha hua nü yi shi. Lin Shu, Wang Shouchang yi [ID D8953]. Yuan Jin : La Dame aux camélias introduced the use of letters and diaries as a narrative form to Chinese fiction and this influenced romantic fiction in particular. Traditional Chinese fiction letters, when they appeared, tended to be letters challenging an enemy to war ; very few were expressions of the innter world of a character. Chinese have been writing diaries for over a thousand years but fiction writers, until the appearance of La Dame aux camélias, had ignored the potential for incorporating the diary form into creative fiction. |
|
| 2 | 1901 |
[Stowe, Harriet Beecher]. Hei nu yu tian lu. Lin Shu, Wei Yi yi. [ID D10429]. Lin Shu. Translator's notes to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Preface In American history the enslavement of blacks in Virginia can be dated to 1619, when the Dutch transported twenty African blacks in a warship to Jamestown and sold them. This was the beginning of the enslavement of blacks by whites. That was before the United States had been established as a nation. Later, when the public-spirited Washington governed selflessly, not seeking a private fortune, he was still unable to change the laws on slavery. It was not until Lincoln's time that the slaves were fortunately emancipated. Recently the treatment of blacks in America has been carried over to yellow people. When a cobra is unable to release its poison fully jt vents its anger by biting wood and grass. Afterwards, no one who touches the poisoned dead branches will escape death. We the yellow people, have we touched its dead branches? Our country is rich in natural resources, but they are undeveloped. Our people's livelihood is impoverished to the extent that they cannot make ends meet. Thus they try to support themselves by going to America to work, and every year send money back to support their families. Of the Americans, the more calculating ones are alarmed at the draining off of their silver and so treat the Chinese workers cruelly so as to stop them from coming. As a result, the yellow people are probably treated even worse than the blacks. But our country’s power is weak, and our envoys are cowardly and afraid of arguing with the Americans. Furthermore, no educated person has recorded what has happened, and I have no way to gain factual knowledge. The only precedent I can rely on is A Black Slave's Cry to Heaven. This book was originally called The Oppression of Black Slaves, and also appeared under the title Tom's Family Affairs. It was written by the American woman writer, Stowe. I did not like the inelegance of these titles and hence changed the title to the present one. In this book the miseries of black slaves are depicted in detail. This is not because I am especially versed in depicting sadness; I am merely transcribing what is contained in the original work. And the prospect of the im¬minent demise of the yellow race has made me feel even sadder. The vociferous [antiforeign] libel-mongers these days are too narrow-minded to reason with. Those who favor the white race, on the other hand, under the erroneous illusion that the Westerners are generous with vassals, are eager to follow or join them. In this respect, there are indeed quite a few readers for whom this book should serve as a warning. The work owes much to Mr. Wei Yi of the Qiushi Academy, who rendered the story orally, which I then put down in writing. It was completed in sixty-six days. preface written by Lin Shu (Lin Qinnan) of Min county, at Seavieio Tower over the lake, on Chongyang festival of year Xinchou during the Guangxu reign [1901]. Lin Shu : Afterword Stowe is an American woman. The reason why the title 'Mrs.' was not attached to her name at the beginning of the volume is because according to Western custom men and women are treated as equals. Furthermore she did not call herself 'Mrs.' in the original book and that term appears only at the end of the book, so we have not changed this. According to Stowe herself, the book is largely based on what she personally heard and saw. Seventy or eighty percent actually happened, and only twenty or thirty percent is fiction. The names of men and women in the book are mostly false, but in reality there were such persons. In translating this book, Mr. Wei and I did not strive to describe sorrow for the purpose of eliciting useless tears from readers. It was rather that we had to cry out for the sake of our people because the prospect of enslavement is threatening our race. In recent years the American continent has severely restricted the immigration of Chinese laborers. A stockade has been erected at the landing place where hun¬dreds of Chinese who have come from afar are locked up. Only after a week do they begin to release one or two people, and some people are not released even after two weeks. This is [like] what is referred to in this book as the 'slave quarters'. Up to the present, letters have never been opened in civilized nations, but now these people are opening all the letters of Chinese without exception. Wherever the word 'America' is mentioned [in a letter], it is taken to be an offense against the nation and no effort is spared to arrest and deport the person. Therefore I ask, do we Chinese have a nation or not? As we can read in George's letter to his friend, a person without a country will be treated like a barbarian even by civilized people. So if in the future we Chinese become material for slaves, will this not be the basis? The Japanese are of the same yellow race. When the wives of their officials were humiliated by the health examination, they were en¬raged and fought the case in the American courts, organizing groups among themselves in order to resist. How brave the Japanese are! Do not our Chinese officials realize that their own nationals, though guiltless, are ignominiously being put in prison and wasting to death there? This situation of dominating and being dominated is like that of [the ancient states of] Chu and Yue. Our national prestige has been bounded; need more be said? Fittingly, this book has been completed just as we are beginning to reform the government. Now that people have all thrown away their old writings and are diligently seeking new knowledge, this book though crude and shallow, may still be of some help in inspiring deter¬mination to love our country and preserve our race. Perhaps those gentlemen in the nation who are well-informed will not consider these words too excessive. Lin Shu, Seaview Tower above the lake, ninth month of Xinchou [1901]. Lin Shu schreibt in der Einführung : "The book tells a fictitious story. But it may become a good lesson to Chinese laborers in the United States. The overseas Chinese in Peru and the Chinese laborers in America are now badly persecuted. It is hard to foretell the miseries of us yellow people. It is my hope that my readers will not take the story merely as fantasy." Wei Yi schreibt im Vorwort : "In recent years, America has been engaged in expelling Chinese laborers. It is likely that we Chinese would be slaves. To be slaves is shameful. To be slaves in foreign countries is even more shameful. Yet, we are not even allowed to be slaves in foreign countries. I don't really know how we Chinese think of ourselves or how foreign countries regard us Chinese. This novel offers us an important lesson. I sincerely hope our readers will not ignore it as mere fiction but learn from it what we should do with ourselves." Sekundärliteratur Ling Shi schreibt in seiner 'review' : "The calamity is not about to befall our yellow race : the exclusion of Chinese labourers in the U.S. and the maltreatment of Chinese in various countries in the West are already a fact. Their predicament was in no way different from that of the Negroes, but worse than the latter. I weep for my yellow people with the tears I shed for the Negroes ; I grieve for the present of my yellow people in the same way I lament the past of the Negroes. I wish that every household had a copy of Uncle Tom's cabin." Xin Shi schreibt in Xin min ri bao (1903) : "When we think of the grim future of the yellow race, it is not the black slaves that we should grieve over." Hui Yun schreibt in Guo min : "Chinese laboreers are now shut up in stockades by Americans. How sad it is that China has lost its power, even its national rights. Seeing ourselves in the black slaves, I cannot refrain from weeping for the yellow race." Jin Yi schreibt : "The black slaves are able to sing of freedom after the Civil War while it is now the yellow men's turn to be slaves. They have to bow their heads and be submissive even if they are shut up in chicken coups or pigsties. A.R. Davis : Lin had adopted an especially patgriotic note, comparing the situation of the slaves with the treatment of Chinese labourers in America, a topic of high indignation in late 19th century China. Martha Cheung : If Stowe was motivated by humanitarian and religious reasons to write, then Wei Yi and Lin Shu were motivated by political and patriotic reasons to translate, particularly by their anxiety about the fate that awaited the Chinese if they became a people without a nation. |
|
| 3 | 1902 |
Picha nü shi zhuan. Guan Yun bian. [ID D21907]. Der Autor schreibt über Harriet Beecher Stowe : "In 19th century America there was a woman who with the strength of her feeble pen lifted countless black slaves from the slough of despond in which they were sunk and restored them to the ranks of humanity. To this day Westerners refer to her as a female saint. This was Ms Beecher. At the time no one in America discussed the slave question. Beecher pondered in solitude, and felt the spirit move. She believed the slaves were the most afflicted of all mankind, and she had to think of a way to save them. But then she was a weak woman ; how could she take it upon herself to put right a situation that for over a hundred years great politicians and philosophers had backed away from ? Finally Beecher sold up her property, said goodbye to her husband, took funds for her sojourn and went to life alone in the hills to write her book, which set forth the principles of universal justice, namely that everyone was equal, without regard to social position or wealth, and that human beings on no account could be treated as beasts of burden. When the book came out, Americans woke up to the fact that enslavement of the blacks was inconsistent with human principles. It was as if ten layers of dark clouds and mist were parted and the sun shone again in the sky." |
|
| 4 | 1902-1907 | Wang Guowei schreibt über westliche Philosophie : "In the spring of the following year (1902), I began to read Fairbanks' Introduction to sociology, Jevons' Logic, and Hoffding's Outlines of psychology. When I was half way through Hoffding's work, some philosophical books I had purchased earlier arrived. I therefore put aside Outlines of psychology for the time being and began to read Paulsen's Introduction to philosophy and Windleband's History of philosophy. I studied these books very much in the same way I studied English previously. But fortunately, since I had studied Japanese before, I was able to get the gist of these books by referring to Japanese works on similar subjects. Having finished Introduction to philosophy and History of philosophy, I began to read Kant in 1903 and found his analysis of genius in Critique of pure reason almost impossible to comprehend. I therefore put it aside for a while and began to read Schopenhauer's The world as will and idea and found its content cogent and style incisive ; I read it twice in that year. When I reached twenty-nine, I went back to Kant and found him not as difficult as before and began to read his theory on ethics and aesthetics besides his Critique of pure reason. This year [1907], I read Kant for the fourth time and found him even less difficult." |
|
| 5 | 1903 |
Li Boyuan. Xiu xiang xiao shuo [ID D21902]. Li Boyuan verkündet bei der Gründung : "The Western countries have used fiction to civilize their people, who are keen observers of significant affairs of the world and have a profound understanding of human wisdom, use such knowledge to analyse the past and predict the future. They then express their opinions in their works with the view of awakening the populace." |
|
| 6 | 1903 | Einführung des Kriminalromans in China durch Arthur Conan Doyle. |
|
| 7 | 1905-1906 |
[Defoe, Daniel]. Lubinsun piao liu ji ; Lubinsun piao liu ji xu ji. Lin Shu yi. [ID D10426]. Lin Shu schreibt im Vorwort : "The English man Robinson, because he is not willing to accept the golden mean as a doctrine for his conduct, travels overseas alone by boat. As a result, he is wrecked in a storm, and was caught in a hopeless situation on a desert island. There he walks and sits alone, lives like a primitive man. He does not go back to his native country until twenty years later. From ancient times to the present, no book has recorded this incident. His father originally wished for him to behave according to the doctrine of the golden mean, but Robinson goes against his will, and in consequence, becomes an outstanding pioneers. Thereupon, adventurous people in the world, who are nearly devoured by sharks and crocodiles, are all inspired by Robinson." "As I read it, I saw all the more clearly how best to handle loneliness and deal with extremity. You handle loneliness with your will, extremity with your own effort. When you are first confronted with loneliness, you are overwhelmed by anxieties, worries, fears, and frustration, you know not where to turn for help. But it is not loneliness that leads your to such a state... When Crusoe is first stranded on the island, he too is troubled and tormented with worries, but when he is resigned to the fact that there is no help and he is entirely on his own, when he knows that worrying would not do him any good, he reins in his fear of death, and he seeks spiritual support in religion. Having attained a measure of peace, he could apply all his energies to survival. It is important to remember that a person will forget his worries if his mind is occupied. During the day, Crusoe focueses his mond on his work - growing crops, building shelters and the like ; at night, he focuses his mind on religion. Through such steadfast discipline, he finally attains equanimity, his thoughts are serene, his words generous and kind. Twenty-seven years later, Crusoe returns to England, disposes of his property and uses his wealth for the care of his relatives and friends ; as head of family, he acts generously and humanely. For having undergone the most trying of all human experiences, he knows how difficult it is for man to bear with difficult circumstances, and so in all his dealings, he keeps in mind the workins of human nature. In this, he truly abides by the Doctrine of the Mean." "Translating is unlike writing. The writer can write about what he has seen or heard, either in vague expressions or in detailed descriptions, that is to say, he can write about whatever subject and in whatever manner he likes. However, when it comes to translating, the translator is confined to relating what has already been written about, how is it, then, possible for him to adulterate the translation with his own views? When religious inculcations are found in the original text, he must translate them ; how can he purge his translation of that discourse just for tabboo's sake ? Hence, translation must be done exactly like what has been written in the original." Sekundärliteratur John Kwan-Terry : It is in the context of a Confucian ethos that Lin Shu discusses Crusoe's appeal to him in his 'Preface'. As Lin sees him, the Confucian hero whose life exemplifies the true principle of the golden mean is a person who is firm and steady of character and who does not tend to extremes of behavious ; he is not fickle in his emotions and beliefs and, far from deviating from the path of truth when under the severest pressure, will be ready to fight and die for it. On the other hand, the vulgar concept of the golden mean projects a man whose idea of not living an excessive life is to spend countless hours in comfort and safety with his wife ; though such a man has not committed any bad deeds, he is but middling and one among the very common. Crusoe, according to Lin, is not of this middling sort. His life shows a man of dynamism, of an independent, adventurous spirit, who is defiant of death, who faces the raging elements with courage, and overcomes the most adverse circumstances with ingenuity and resourcefulness. Such vitality of temperament supports the realization of the ideal mean which lies, not in a mere avoidance of extremes, but in an orderly fulfilment of responsible actions within society, within the family, within the time of human life. In this last observation, Lin has not overlocked the fact that there is little family or society to speak of in Robinson Crusoe, at leas in the sense of extended, overt reference. By its very nature, Lin's Confucian outlook on life has a 'this-worldly' orientation, in which ethical definitions are directed primarily towards the creation of social harmony. This means that Lin takes for granted Crusoe's social context, whether such a context has been elaborately fashioned or merely implied ; without such a context, Crusoe's extraordinary life becomes ultimately meaningless. Lin would have noticed that such a context has been established on the very first page of the novel, where Crusoe supplies details of his date of birth, the history of his name, his family's immigration into and subsequent naturalization in England – genealogical and sociological details that people in the traditional Chinese world, whether in real life or in literature, seldom overlook. A nameless Crusoe, however heroic, who lives and dies alone on an island, will be an image of little consequence to Lin. If Lin has emphasized Crusoe's existential image, it is because, having taken Crusoe's social context for granted, he finds that this image is highly attractive and meaningful fo Lin's world-picture. Thus he does not find it awkward, while discussing Crusoe's dynamic personality, to give as much space in his preface to discussing Crusoe's relationships with his father, his wife and friends even though they appear but briefly in the book. It is from the same Confucian standpoint that Lin interpreted Crusoe's religious experience, his family and social relationships and his mythic significance. In his preface, he makes it clear that although he has translated Crusoe's Christian cogitations and prayers faithfully, he does not accept them. The religious sense, however, that they occasionally, and Crusoe's attitude always, impart, he understands and associates with the Chinese consciousness of the tao. Lin's subsequent description of Crusoe's development shows, he can tolerate Crusoe's invcoations to God and Christ as occasions illuminating the emotional and psychological states that accompany the hero's efforts to make sense of his condtion. Crusoe began with a love of adventure, Lin explains. His first act, in disregarding his parents' advice and admonition, was an act of ignorance. But paradoxically, it was also an intuitive reaction of his 'tao' and, if not an act of wisdom in itself, it led to wisdom, to that process of self-discovery in which widom lies. Initially, however, it saved Crusoe from settling down to that kind of 'middling' life that his father had advocated and that exemplifies the 'vulgar concept of the golden mean'. Once on the island, away from men, Crusoe's religious consiciousness began to develop. At first, alone and confused, he suffered from severe psychological disorientation, as nay normal man would, and became successively passive and apathetic, and obsessed with fencing himself in to keep out predators, both real and imagined. Crusoe's isolation had been beneficial in another way. As he arrived at an understanding of his condition, he gave thanks that with all its hardships and miseries, it had not been worse, indeed that it probably was much better than what many people had to suffer. With this realization, self-pity gave way to a mind at peace and a heart in closer sympathy with other men. Thus, 'after reading Robinson', Lin maintains, "I understand how to fight loneliness and difficulties. Loneliness is fought through the heart, difficulties are fought through power". Lin adds : "Crusoe's treatment of his father shows that not all Westerners are unfilial, that he who knows how to fulfil filial obligations knows how to be loyal and care for his country. In this way, filial piety can be extended beyond family bonds to serve the purpose of national wealth and harmony. Since not all Westerners are unfilial, we cannot commend China and deprecate foreign countries. The reason Western learning has not spread all over China lies precisely in the mistaken notion held by a few conservatives that Westerners know no fathers." Lin regards Crusoe as a model of heroic endeavour for his readers. The political implications of an example what is Western in nature and conception are not lost on him. While enthusing over Crusoe as the embodiment of individual vitality, he is sufficiently convinced of its essentially predatory nature to feel apprhensive of what the type means in the historical context of his time. The arrival of Friday in the story is thus seen as a signal for the subjugation, however benevolent, of the inferior for the benefits of the superior. The translation of Robinson Crusoe, in Lin Shu's hands, becomes not so much a problem of literal accuracy as a work of interpretation and cultural transplantation. Lin has not hesitated to delete and abridge, to add a few words of his own to make the meaning clearer or supply his own metaphor to heighten the effect of the original, or to intersperse in the translated text his own annotations or critical comments in order to bring out a point or draw some conclusion. All the liberties that Lin took with Defoe's text served to record his appreciation or explication of the original work, its theme and art. In Lin Shu's Chinese eyes, Crusoe represents an image of human achievement that is both inspiring and threatening, an image, at the same time, that is seen to evolve within the contextual framework, not from book-learning or philosophical speculations but from experience, from the actual efforts at making a life worth living. |
|
| 8 | 1906 |
Wai guo lie nü zhuan. Chen Shoupeng yi ; Xue Shaohui bian. [ID D29955]. "Mrs. Stowe is a daughter of Beecher the minister. Born in Connecticut on June 15, 1812. When fifteen, she became, at the request of her sister and her neighbors, a teacher at a girls' school in Hartford. After she [Harriet Beecher Stowe] married Pastor Stowe in 1836, her literary talent bloomed under his tutorship. She published a volume of stories called The mayflower, which was deemed a suitable school text for young persons, as a result of which Stowe became well known all over New England. In 1851 she wrote an other book called Uncle Tom's cabin, which was published in Boston in 1852. This was received very enthusiastically, going into four reprints and selling 400'000 copies. It also sold 500'000 copies in Britain, and was translated into the main European languages, besides being adapted for the stage. It was supplemented in 1853 by the author's The key to Uncle Tom's cabin, which enhanced its standing." |
|
Sources (8)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1902 |
[Verne, Jules]. Di di lü xing. Rule Fan'erna zhu ; Zhou Shuren [Lu Xun] yi. In : Xin xiao shuo (Yokohama) ; vol. 1 (1902). = In : Zhejiang chao ; Dec. (1903). = In : Lu, Xun. Lu Xun quan ji. Vol. 11, vol. 1. (Shanghai : Lu Xun quan ji chu ban she, 1938).= Übersetzung von Verne, Jules. De la terre à la lune : trajet direct en 97 heures. (Paris : Hetzel, 1865). 地底旅行 |
Publication / LuX1 |
|
| 2 | 1902 |
Liang, Qichao. Xin Zhongguo wei lai ji. In : Xin xiao shuo ; no 1-3 (1902). Enthält kurze Auszüge aus : Byron, George Gordon. The giaour : a fragment of a Turkish tale. (London : Printed by T. Davison, Whitefriars, for John Murray, 1813) ; Byron, George Gordon. The Isles of Greece. In : Byron, George Gordon. Don Juan ; with a biographical account of Lord Byron and his family ; anecdotes of his Lordhip's travels and residence in Greece, at Geneva, & c. : canto III. (London : Printed for William Wright, 1819). [Englisches Original und Übersetzung]. 新中国未来记 |
Publication / LiaQ20 | |
| 3 | 1902 |
[Verne, Jules]. Hai di lü xing. Xiaolushi zhu ; Lu Jidong yi, Hong Xisheng ed. In : Xin xiao shuo ; no 1 (1902). Übersetzung von Verne, Jules. Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. (Paris : J. Hetzel, 1870). [Die Übersetzung basiert auf der japanischen Übersetzung von Taihei Sanji]. 海底旅行 |
Publication / VerJ1 | |
| 4 | 1902 | Picha nü shi zhuan. Guan Yun [ed.]. In : Yuan bao ; no 18 (June 1902) ; Shanghai nü bao (July 1902) ; Xin min cong bao ; no 12 (1902). [Autor unbekannt, Biographie von Harriet Beecher Stowe]. | Publication / StoH2 | |
| 5 | 1903 |
Doyle, Arthur Conan. Xin yi bao tan an. (Shanghai : Wen ming shu ju, 1903). Übersetzung von Doyle, Arthur Conan. The naval treaty, The crooked man, A case of identity. [Erstmals erschienen in : Shi wu bao ; Oct.-Nov. 1896, March-April 1897, April-May 1897 ; als Buch 1899]. [Erste chinesische Übersetzungen von Kriminalgeschichten]. 新譯包探案 |
Publication / Doy1 |
|
| 6 | 1903 |
[Dioscorides = Harding, Pieter]. Meng you er shi yi shi ji. Daaisikeluotisi zhu ; Yang Desen yi. (Shanghai : Shang wu yin shu guan, 1903). Übersetzung von Dioscorides = Harding, Pieter. Anno 2065 : een blik in de toekomst. (Utrecht : Greven, 1865). [Erstveröffentlichung in : Xiu xiang xiao shuo (1903). 梦游二十一世纪 |
Publication / HarP10 | |
| 7 | 1904 |
[Verne, Jules]. Huan you yue qiu. Jiaonushiwei'ershi ; Shang wu yin shu guan bian yi suo bian yi. (Shanghai : Shang wu yin shu guan, 1904). (Shuo bu cong shu chu ji ; 7). Übersetzung von Verne, Jules. De la terre à la lune : trajet direct en 97 heures. (Paris : Hetzel, 1865). (Bibliothèque d'éducation et de récréation. Les voyages extraordinaires). [Nach der Ausg. von 1914]. 環游月球 |
Publication / VerJ100 |
|
| 8 | 1905 |
[Verne, Jules]. Mi mi shi zhe. Wumentianxiaosheng [Bao Tianxiao] yi. Vol. 1-2. (Shanghai : Shang wu yin shu guan, 1905). Übersetzung von Verne, Jules. Michel Strogoff. In : Verne, Jules. Michel Strogoff, Moscou, Irkoutsk ; suivi de Un drame au Mexique. Dessins de J. Férat, gravés par Ch.Barbant. (Paris : J. Hetzel, 1876). (Bibliothèque d'éducation et de récréation). 秘密使者 |
Publication / VerJ118 |
|
Cited by (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2007- | Worldcat/OCLC | Web / WC |
|