https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9921-402X
While numerous studies have explored how intellectuals of the late Qing dynasty represented the African continent in geographical documentaries, biographical compositions, newspapers, and periodicals, there has been relatively less research on the African imagination in literary translation within the context of literary and cultural studies of that era. To address this scholarly gap, Traversing the Dark Continent: Translating and Imaging African Exploration and Adventure in Late Qing China, written in Chinese by Kean-Fung Guan, offers an examination of how Western explorations and adventures in Africa were translated and how the African continent was imaginatively reconstructed in Chinese context through the lens of translation during the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries.
The monograph under review consists of an introduction, six chapters, and a conclusion. In the introductory chapter, Guan delineates the research background, identifying the pivotal factors that would influence the reconstruction of African images. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from literary studies, translation studies, and imagology, Guan proceeds to uncover the ways in which the African continent was reimagined by the late Qing intellectuals through a meticulous analysis of four translated literary works. These translations, as many others of the time, were collaboratively completed by two “translators”, one of whom gave an oral account of foreign works and the other then transcribed into Chinese.
Through tracing the course of how Missionary Travels and Researchers in South Africa (1857) by David Livingstone was rewritten as Hei man feng tu ji黑蠻風土記 (1879), Chapter one demonstrates how the translated works turns out to be a site where the writers and translators (Dingwen Shen and Jinyong Shi) exercised their poetical expressiveness and literary talent, transforming a Westerner’s somewhat as-a-matter-of-fact travelogue into an enchanting Chinese piece.
The next two chapters concern how Henry M. Stanley’s Through the Dark Continent (1878) was translated and serialized as San zhou you ji 三洲遊記 (1883–1888) on Shanghai’s first Catholic newspaper and later published as the full-length volume Fei zhou you ji 斐洲遊記 (1900). Situating the translation practice into its social and historical context in Chapter two, Guan identifies the primary translation agencies that significantly influenced the translation and the African image it constructed. Subsequently, Chapter three showcases how, by changing the narrative mode and structure of the original text, translators Baizhai Xu and Tao (Hanfei) Zou changed Stanley’s geographical exploration from seeking the source of the Nile to a comprehensive world tour, encompassing encounters with various exotic cultures and customs beyond the African continent. Guan suggests that rewriting as such reflects the cosmopolitan worldview held by late Qing intellectuals. It also resonates with a real-life world marked by intersections between the old and new, traditional and modern, and the West and the East.
Chapter four charts the transnational and transcultural trajectories of Jules Verne’s geography and science fiction Cinq Semaines en ballon (1863) from its French original to the English translation (1870), then to the Japanese (1883), and finally to the Chinese versions Kong zhong lüe xing ji 空中旅行計(1903) and Fei xing ji飛行計(1907). While the English and Japanese translations of African adventures had largely downplayed the geographical register of the French original text along its migration spanning 43 years, as Guan found, the Chinese translation retained most of its geographical elements, which started a new paradigm of geography and adventure fiction writing that incorporated the African continent into the geographical landscape.
Chapter five focuses on the Chinese translation of H. Rider Haggard’s Black Heart and White Heart (1899) to Man huang zhi yi 蠻荒誌異 (1900) by Shu Lin and Zonggong Zeng. As argued, Lin’s nostalgia toward the Qing Empire and his sympathy with the black people’s resistance war against the white colonizers made him downplay the critical self-reflection Haggard intended to make in the original while highlighting the “warrior” spirit in the translation. Combing elements of history, geography and romance, the translation is found to present a thrilling storyline, rendering Haggard’s a best-seller in China.
Chapter six turns to epitextual materials (e.g. news report, commentaries) revolving around the Africa-related books and authors discussed in the proceeding chapters, which offers an intertextual analysis into the late Qing intellectuals’ perceptions of and response to the African imagination in literature. It is discovered that the intertextual discourse, like the aforementioned Chinese translations, continues to perpetuate the image of Africa as being a primitive and mythical “Dark Continent”, and tends to foreground the adventurous spirit in the original works, serving to mirror the domestic political dilemma of the time and to subvert the Western stereotype of Chinese as the “Sick Man of East Asia” with that of the “brave adventurer and fighter”.
Historically, “Africa” has been conspicuously absent from inquiries into the annals of modern Chinese literature. Guan’s book pioneers an investigation of Africa-related materials for the literary and cultural studies in late Qing China and marks a departure from the conventional research paradigm that predominantly features America, Japan, and European countries. Hence, it offers a fresh perspective on the complex interplay between the “Other” and the “Self” and unveils marginalized voices of the Third World countries. Furthermore, the book highlights the importance of studying literary translations as a valuable source for understanding transcultural dynamics and the shaping of cultural imaginaries.
Nevertheless, the book suffers from some drawbacks. The translations examined in the book traverse multiple linguistic and geographical terrains, each carrying its own embedded geographical and transcultural implications. A potential limitation of the book might be its oversight of the intricacies inherent in the power relations underpinning the translations from Western languages like English and French into Chinese. Furthermore, the multifaceted function that these translations including some retranslations serve in shaping and perpetuating cultural stereotypes warrants a more thorough consideration. The hetero-image of Africa constructed by Chinese intellectuals in the late Qing dynasty might inevitably carry the imprint of the Western imagination. On the other hand, their auto-image could be understood as a counter-image, aiming to challenge and counteract the Western stereotypes and representations of Chinese people prevalent during that time. Above all, the repetitive nature of certain sections in the volume creates a sense of redundancy and the inclusion of conclusions within the introductory section of some chapters diminishes its overall scholarly impact.
Taken together, Guan’s book offers valuable insights into the cultural representations of Africa, the role of translation in shaping these representations, and the broader implications for literary and cultural studies of the time. It serves as a guidebook for readers interested in critical cultural studies in general and African imagination in late Qing literature in particular.