“Zhao Yuanren's translation of Alice's adventures in wonderland and its significance in modern Chinese literary history” (Publication, 2010)
Year
2010
Text
Hu, Rong. Zhao Yuanren's translation of Alice's adventures in wonderland and its significance in modern Chinese literary history. In : Frontiers of literary studies in China ; vol. 4, no 3 (2010). (Carro1)
Type
Publication
Contributors (1)
Hu, Rong
(um 2010) : Lecturer Institute of Literature Studies, Shanghai International Studies University
Mentioned People (2)
Carroll, Lewis
(Daresbury, Cheshire 1832-1898 Gildford) : Schriftsteller
Zhao, Yuanren
(Tianjin 1892-1982 Cambridge, Mass.) : Sinologe, Phonologist, Linguist, Agassiz Professor für Linguistik Center for Chinese Linguistics, Department of Oriental Languages, University of California
Subjects
Literature : Occident : Great Britain
Chronology Entries (7)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1919 | Zhao Yuanren ist Lecturer on Physics an der Cornell University. |
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| 2 | 1920-1921 | Zhao Yuanren unterrichtet Mathematik an der Qinghua-Universität. |
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| 3 | 1921 | Hu Shi wrote in his diary : "I went to visit Zhao Yuanren at noon. He's about to finish the translation of Alice's adventures in wonderland : a real masterpiece !" | |
| 4 | 1922 |
[Carroll, Lewis]. Alisi man you qi jing ji. Zhao Yuanren yi [ID D8584]. Zhao Yuanren : "The first step of my way to translate this book is, I'd think of what we'll say in spoken Chinese at sight of a sentence. After that I put it down, checked it against the original. And then, in order to reach the standard of 'every word is faithfully translates', I tried to make some amendments, and kept alert never to get it sound like a foreign language. It would be impossible to translate this book perfectly into Chinese if we didn't employ the vernacular Chinese, so this translation can serve as a sample to judge the vernacular Chinese too. The joke in this book is of another kind, whose sense lies in its nonsense. Why ? There're two reasons : firstly, the author intends to create an artwork instead of a fable ; secondly, the so-calles 'nonsense' in English means 'butong' in Chinese. However, not all nonsense is significant. The point of nonsense is that, it sounds like a word of sense, but nonsense in fact ; it looks like a thing of sense, but nonsense too. The book is a reference book of philosophy and logic as well. When probing into the profoundest of logic, many puzzles of 'nonsense' will emerge, and some are unsolvable till now." Sekundärliteratur Hu Rong : Zhao Yuanren found the book for children would offer a best sample for his linguistic experiment : "The Chinese language is now undergoing an examination, and it's good chance to make an experiment for several purposes". To translate Alice's adventures in Wonderland into Chinese looked for him like a mission impossible to put such a book full of 'nonsense' into Chinese, the vernacular Chinese particularly, since no one had succeeded in the last half century. He acquired the best reward by attaching his name to his favorite book forever as a result. |
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| 5 | 1928 |
[Carroll, Lewis]. Alisi Zhongguo you ji. Shen Congwen zuo [ID D32102]. Hu Rong : Shen picked Alice and the rabbit (Nuoxi) out of the original, and made another dream for them, where they traveled in China together. The journey of oriental exoticism turns out to be a nightmare for the two visitors from the west, for wherever they go around China, famine, ignorance and superstition prevail. The gentlemen in the town all worship the west blindly, and are busy fighting each other along with a group of mean and snobbish servants. Alice and her partner then come to the west of Hunan province, a mountainous residence for Miao people, one of the minorities of China, and they witness a number of uncivilized customs, including a ruthless slave trade. Finally they suddenly wake up and end their extremely uncomfortable 'adventures' at a loss. |
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| 6 | 1931 |
[Carroll, Lewis]. Alisi xiao jie. Chen Bochui [ID D32103]. "After looking through Alice's adventures in wonderland I was attracted and excited by this innocent, implusive, clever, brave and lovely girl, and then an idea occurred to me that she could be invited to China, the semi-feudal and semi-colony, and through her experience Chinese children will get to know their own country, learn what to love, what to hate, what's right and what's wrong, and then consider where to go and choose the correct way for themselves. At sight of the barefooted worker, Alice suddenly thought of several hateful faces : those of bristletail, the profiteer, of snake, the police, of Dr. Firefly, the manager of electric company, of snoozing bug, the judge, of cicada, the poet, of python, the emperor, of gadfly, the fortuneteller, of grasshopper, the rascal, of fly, the gangster, and of mosquito." Sekundärliteratur Hu Rong : Chen tells Alice's adventures in China in his fairy tale for pupils. It's evident that Chen had studies Carroll's Alice carefully and tried to follow the original in plots, scenes and characters. As a skilled writer of books for children, Chen attached importance to the dialogue and interior monologue of his characters. His Alice remains a curious, honest and polite girl, who occasionally makes some mistakes out of carelessness or quick temper. Like what she meets in wonderland, Alice encounters many queer animals and attends a number of debates, parties and trials. Chen did not forget to add dozens of nursery rhymes to his book, which at first glance seems quite close to its original in the style at least. |
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| 7 | 1988 |
Zhou, Zuoren. Alisi man you qi jing ji [ID D32104]. " As for the children themselves, since they need in deed this fancy work when their imagination is to be developed, it's beyond the right of us adults to deprive them of this need, no matter in what holy name, such as God, emperor or country, just as we mustn't deprive them of clothing and food." Hu Rong : What Zhou requested from the adults was the respect for the psychological needs of children as vital as their physical needs. He argued that love for fantasy and daydream was in children's nature, and it would be the worst policy for adults to suppress this nature with their moralism or impose all the arbitrary restrictions upon children, while Chinese people has long taken for granted that any idea unpractical in the little heads was harmful and should be prohibited, let alone nonsense. |
Sources (3)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1922 |
Zhou, Zuoren. Alisi man you qi jing ji. In : Chen bao fu juan ; 12.3.1922. Repr. In : Zhou, Zuoren. Zi ji de yuan di yu tian de shu. (Beijing : Ren min wen xue chu ban she, 1988). [Betr. Alice's adventures in wonderland von Lewis Carroll]. 阿丽思漫游奇境记 |
Publication / Carro4 | |
| 2 | 1928 |
[Carroll, Lewis]. Alisi Zhongguo you ji. Shen Congwen zuo. In : Xin yue ; March-Oct. (1928). = Vol. 1-2. (Shanghai : Xin yue shu dian, 1928). Adaptation von Carroll, Lewis. Alice's adventures in wonderland. With forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel. (London : Macmillan, 1865). 阿麗思中國遊記 |
Publication / Carro2 | |
| 3 | 1931 |
[Carroll, Lewis]. Alisi xiao jie. Chen Bochui. In : Xiao xue sheng (Spring 1931). Adaptation von Carroll, Lewis. Alice's adventures in wonderland. With forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel. (London : Macmillan, 1865). 阿丽思小姐 |
Publication / Carro3 |
Cited by (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2000- | Asien-Orient-Institut Universität Zürich | Organisation / AOI |
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