Transcultural Poetics: Chinese Literature in English Translation

236 Pages·2023·8.295 MB·English

by  Yifeng Sun, Dechao Li

Transcultural Poetics
This book examines many facets of transcultural poetics in the English translation
of Chinese literature from 12 different expert contributors.
Translating Chinese literature into English is a special challenge. There
is a pressing need to overcome a slew of obstacles to the understanding and
appreciation of Chinese literary works by readers in the English-speaking world.
Hitherto only intermittent attempts have been made to theorize and explore
the exact role of the translator as a cultural and aesthetic mediator informed
by cross-cultural knowledge, awareness, and sensitivity. Given the complexity
of literary translation, sophisticated poetics of translation in terms of literary
value and aesthetic taste needs to be developed and elaborated more fully from
a cross-cultural perspective. It is, therefore, necessary to examine attempts to
reconcile the desire for authentic transmission of Chinese culture with the need
for cultural mediation and appropriation in terms of the production and reception
of texts subject to the multiplicity of constraints in order to shed new light on
the longstanding conundrum of Chinese-English literary translation by addressing
Chinese literature in the multiple contexts of nationalism, cross-cultural hybridity,
literary untranslatability, the reception of translation, and also world literature.
The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of translation studies,
Chinese literature, and East Asian studies.
Yifeng Sun is Chair Professor of Translation Studies at the University of Macau
and Editor-in-Chief of Babel: International Journal of Translation. His recent
publications include Translational Spaces (2021) and Translating Foreign
Otherness (2018).
Dechao Li is Associate Professor in the Department of Chinese and Bilingual
Studies at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is also Editor-in-Chief of
Translation Quarterly, the official journal of the Hong Kong Translation Society.

Transcultural Poetics
Chinese Literature in
English Translation
Edited by Yifeng Sun and
Dechao Li
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Yifeng Sun and Dechao Li;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Yifeng Sun and Dechao Li to be identified as the authors of
the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-43622-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-43629-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-36816-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003368168
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of Contributors vii
Introduction 1
YIFENG SUN AND DECHAO LI
1 Chinese Text and World Literature 7
YIFENG SUN
2 Chinese Literature in Translation, World Literature
as Genre 33
TODD FOLEY
3 The Translator’s Individual Approach: English Translation of
Chinese Poetry 52
AUDREY HEIJNS
4 On the “Clamour of Voices” in Translation Anthologies of
Contemporary Chinese Literature 66
XIULU WANG
5 Repositioning The Injustice to Dou E in a Global
Generic Context 83
ERSU DING
6 Translating Traditional Chinese Opera for the Stage: The Cult
of Qing and the English Script of The Peony Pavilion
(The Young Lovers’ Edition) 95
WENJING LI
vi Contents
7 The Silence of Anxiety and Trauma in the English
Translation of Selected Stories of Xi Ni Er 113
YI-CHIAO CHEN
8 Silenced Interstitiality: Translated Hong Kong Literature in
English and French Anthologies 132
MAIALEN MARIN-LACARTA
9 Cultural Untranslatability of Heteroglossia: Hong Kong
Poetry in Colonial Time 152
CHRIS SONG
10 Translating Hybrid Texts in Hong Kong: A Case Study
of the English Translation of Chan Koon Chung’s
Kamdu cha canting 169
DECHAO LI
11 “Big Translation” and Cultural Memory: The Construction
and Transmission of National Images 188
XUANMIN LUO
12 The Function of Literary and Cultural Communication
of English 201
NING WANG
Index 216
Contributors
1. Yi-Chiao Chen, National University of Singapore, Singapore
2. Ersu Ding, Shanghai International Studies University, China
3. Todd Foley, New York University, U. S. A.
4. Audrey Heijns, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
5. Dechao Li, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China
6. Wenjing Li, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China
7. Xuanmin Luo, Guangxi/Tsinghua University, China
8. Maialen Marin-Lacarta, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain
9. Chris Song, University of Toronto, Canada
10. Yifeng Sun, University of Macau, China
11. Ning Wang, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China
12. Xiulu Wang, Sun Yat-sen University, China

Introduction
Yifeng Sun and Dechao Li
Translating Chinese literature into English is a special challenge. There is a press-
ing need to overcome a slew of obstacles to the understanding and appreciation
of Chinese literary works by readers in the English-speaking world. Hitherto only
intermittent attempts have been made to theorize and explore the exact role of the
translator as a cultural and aesthetic mediator informed by cross-cultural knowl-
edge, awareness, and sensitivity. Given the complexity of literary translation,
sophisticated poetics of translation with regard to literary value and aesthetic taste
needs to be developed and elaborated more fully from a cross-cultural perspec-
tive. It is, therefore, necessary to examine attempts to reconcile the desire for
authentic transmission of Chinese culture with the need for cultural mediation
and appropriation in terms of the production and reception of texts subject to the
multiplicity of constraints in order to shed new light on the longstanding conun-
drum of Chinese-English literary translation by addressing Chinese literature in
the multiple contexts of nationalism, cross-cultural hybridity, literary untranslat-
ability, the reception of translation, and also world literature.
Whether or not the target language is their native tongue, translating from Chi-
nese in to English has always been a challenging undertaking for translators. In
the early days after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the
country experienced manifold hardships in recuperating from a war that had torn
it apart. The international environment was not without animosity against China’s
global status. Yet despite all this, in 1951, this “young” country launched an Eng-
lish magazine titled Chinese Literature. It is the first and only official publication
dedicated to translating Chinese literature and artworks for foreign countries in
a timely and systematic manner. The publication of the magazine is an emblem-
atic milestone in building a cultural bridge to the rest of the world. Since then,
sustained efforts have been made to translate Chinese literature into English. This
is due in part to the rising need to redress the cross-cultural imbalance in transla-
tions into and out of Chinese, which is mirrored in an unequal interaction between
China and the West. Apart from the fact that the number of English translations
of Chinese literature is disappointingly modest in relative terms, most of these
translations need to be greatly enhanced in terms of effectiveness. Asymmetrical
transcultural contact is implied by literary translation. All translations, according
to André Lefevere, are rewriting practices with two components: ideology and
DOI: 10.4324/9781003368168-1