(Pseudo-)collaborative translation as a legitimization of authority: a case study of the National Theatre Movement

ABSTRACT

Collaborative translation has the potential to complicate our understanding of the translation process with the epistemology of the multi-agent and the multimodal. However, translation theories have been dominated by ‘myths of singularity,’ and its collaborative dimension has received limited scholarly attention. The present research is an attempt to explore the issue of authority in collaborative translation, with the (pseudo-)collaborative translation conducted in the National Theatre Movement in China in the mid-1920s as a case in point. Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of orthodoxy/heterodoxy, symbolic power, and disinterestedness are used as a theoretical lens to examine the discourse by which the movement’s proponents attempted to legitimate the heterodox ‘aesthetic paradigm’ through resorting to collaborative translation. Countering the concern that collaborative translation multiples the translator’s authority or constitutes a source of division, this paper argues that collaborative translation can enhance collective status by projecting ‘disinterestedness,’ but it may well enact a hierarchical power structure that diminishes individual contribution and even exploits the vulnerable. The case of the National Theatre Movement also brings to our attention the phenomenon of (pseudo-)collaboration, which sheds light on the understanding of the notion of collaborative translation in general.

KEYWORDS:

• Pierre Bourdieu
• disinterestedness
• aesthetic paradigm
• modern Chinese theater

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback to help to improve the quality of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Among the four leaders of the National Theatre Movement, Yu Shangyuan was the first that questioned the orthodoxy of the Ibsenian realistic paradigm. When he was studying at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Yu published nineteen articles, collectively entitled ‘A Humble Gift’ (Qinxian), which, though presented as original compositions, were preliminarily translated from the advocates of the aesthetic theater (Li, 2020, pp. 84–145). Upon leaving for New York in the summer of 1924 with Zhang, who was then studying literature at Carnegie Institute of Technology (Yu, 1926), Yu met Wen and Zhao at the student residence, the International House. In December 1924, the four of them led the staging of the English play The Never-ending Sorrow written by Yu for the ‘China Night’ event held at the International House (Yu, 1924). In this performance, they materialized many of the key notions of the aesthetic paradigm on stage and produced a performance of simplification, suggestion, and synthesis (Li, 2020, pp. 153–168). The success of the performance convinced them of the feasibility of promoting such a theater in China and resulted in them launching the National Theatre Movement (Yu, 1926).

2 In March 1926, invited by the famous Chinese poet Liu Mengwei, Xu Zhimo began to actively participate in the advocacy and study of new poetry, which resulted in the launching of a weekly journal, Poetry Supplement (Shikan) on April 1 (Wong, 2008, pp. 283–284). After running eleven issues, Poetry Supplement took a hiatus and was ‘lent’ to Yu and his comrades to enlarge through drama, which led to the publication of Theatre Supplement on June 17 (Wong, 2008, pp. 283–284).

3 In the 1920s, Yu, Zhao, Zhang, and Wen were perhaps the very few Chinese intellectuals who grasped the key notions of the aesthetic paradigm because Chinese theater had featured a plethora of experimentations with the Ibsenian social realistic drama since the late 1910s, with little affect on other theatrical paradigms (Liu, 2015, pp. 110–111).

4 Xu Zhimo recalled that although he was listed as the editor of Theatre Supplement, it was Yu Shangyuan who ‘took up the tedious work of editing’ (Xu & Yu, 1926, p. 1).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Barbara Jiawei Li

Barbara Jiawei Li is a postdoctoral fellow at the Research Centre for Translation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include translation theories, translation history, and drama translation.