![Sample our Language & Literature journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5941/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Language-Literature.jpg"})
Abstract
Literature played an important role in the construction of a modern nation-state in late Qing China, when fiction as a literary genre was endowed with strong political and ideological agendas. In fin-de-siècle China, the emergence of political novels through translation from the West, as an important subgenre of “new fiction”, was essentially a response to the nation’s severe national crisis engendered by colonial threat. Against this backdrop, the practical value of literary translation was strikingly emphasized, as progressive Chinese intellectuals took the translation of western-derived political novels as a vehicle of intellectual enlightenment and political engagement, appealing to constitutionalism, nationalism and patriotism. In this context, translators deliberately put political priority over linguistic faithfulness or aesthetic value, turning the process of literary translation into “transcreation”, to propagate their ideals for sociopolitical reforms. Thus, as an important instrument for constructing the nationalist imagination, the translation of political novels served as a fictional prescription for national emancipation in late Qing China, manifesting both a process of cultural (re)construction and an important facet of East–West interaction.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Qing (1644–911) is the last imperial dynasty in China, and the late Qing often refers to the period of history since the First Opium War, namely 1840–911. This essay focuses especially on the last decades of the late Qing.
2 The term “new fiction” was coined and promoted by Liang Qichao 梁启超 (1873–929) in 1902, which showed his firm belief in breaking completely from traditional Chinese fiction, perceived as “old”.
3 “Modern” (jindai, 近代) here refers to the modern period of history, which is from 1840 to 1949 according to the Chinese historiography. Western historians tend to trace back to late Ming or early Qing periods when studying modern China (see Spence Citation1990). This essay adopts the traditional Chinese historiography in defining “modern China”.
4 Zhuangzi, one of the two foundational texts of Taoism, is an ancient Chinese collection of anecdotes and fables from the mid-Warring States period (476–221 bce).
5 Original in Chinese: 是以君子不为也, quoted from Chapter Zizhang of The Analects of Confucius《论语·子张》.
6 Such as the poetry revolution, the prose revolution and the fiction revolution.
7 When the original title is not available or in a foreign language, a literal translation from the Chinese title is provided in parentheses.
8 As Chen Jinghan (pseudonym: Cold Blood) the translator wrote in the preface to the novel, “I feel gratified that although the Russian government is ruthless, the people still have nihilist revolutionaries to resist the government.”
9 In order to emphasize the political colour and enlightenment effect of novels, translators often changed the theme, structure and characters of the original works, or arbitrarily added/deleted them. This kind of translation is called haojie yi, which involves adaptation, rewriting, or transcreation.
10 Liang’s translation is based on the Japanese version translated by Shiken Morita, while the Japanese version was also translated from the English version instead of the original work in French.
11 The Chinese version was entitled Can shijie (惨世界).
12 The most influential newspapers include Current Affairs (Shiwu Bao, 时务报, 1896–8), Public Opinion (Qingyi Bao, 清议报, 1898–901) and Xinmin Newspaper (Xinmin congbao, 新民丛报, 1902–7).
13 Ti 体 stands for “essence” and yong 用 for “practical use”.
14 The future series includes Liang’s The Future of New China, Chun Fan’s Future World 未来世界 (1907), Biheguan Zhuren’s New Era 新纪元 (1908), Wu Jianren’s The Ten Thousandth Year of the Guangxu Reign 光绪万年 (1908), and Lu Shi’e’s New China 新中国 (1910).