1263030 Translation as a Shaping Force of World Literature: A Chinese Perspective
Organizer(s):
Cao Qilin (University of Macau, mb84110@um.edu.mo)
Du Kexin (University of Macau, yb87719@um.edu.mo)
Li Jingxiang (University of Macau, yb87720@um.edu.mo)
Panel
Purport:
World literature, as a singular concept, has continued to
draw attention in humanities research. Since the dissemination of world
literature depends on international circulation, the possibility of world
literature rests on translation into various languages. Much has been written
about the key role of translation in cultural development and nation building
as well as in the promotion of world literature. However, some more
fundamental questions remain either open or unanswered as to what exactly
constitutes the role and how and to what extent that role is
performed. World literature consists of selected literary texts in
translation to reach a heterogeneous international readership. Translation into
different languages is therefore essential to creating the afterlives of
literary texts. It is safe to hypothesize that world literature exists mostly,
if not only, in translation, without which, the concept of world literature is
of little use. Therefore, it is only meaningful to study world literature in
translation and how it is shaped and enabled or inhibited by the latter.
Chinese literature has been palpably playing
an important role in constructing world literature. Translation in
between necessarily serves as a mediator of different languages as
well as cultural traditions. A multitude of ensuing anxieties, at the same
time, along with uncompromising mismatches and also dubious verisimilitude
surfaced in translating process, further raise doubts which inexorably
require a reconfiguration of literary resources both domestically and
internationally. How do Chinese scholars, writers as well as translators of
several generations draw esthetic inspirations from and make effective
utilization of the exotic resources? How do cultural and political constraints
of Chinese clime governing the rewriting process of producing translation
acclimatize to the world literature writing? How do Chinese literature
translators and promoters negotiate between the obliteration of irreducible
cultural elements for retaining readability and the necessary alteration
attuned to the world literature writing without the danger of losing
authenticity? This panel which employs translation as a pertinent perspective
in order to contour the interaction between Chinese literature and world
literature will endeavor to tackle the questions mentioned above and also
always be ready for other perspicacious papers and researches regarding related
issues.
Panel Papers:
Cao Qilin (University of
Macau) : A Contextualized Study on Zhang Zao’s
Poetry Translation
Du Kexin (University
of Macau) : Translating the Untranslatable: Foreign Otherness and
Cross-Cultural Readability: A Case Study of Wang Rongpei’s Translation of The Peony Pavilion
Huang Ruoze (Xiamen
University) : Imagining World Literature: Zheng Zhenduo and the Translation of
The World's Library in the 1930s
Li Jingxiang (University
of Macau) : The Loss and Gain of Poetological Rewriting: A Case Study of Red Sorghum
Song Ge (Beijing
Normal University · Hong Kong Baptist University
United International College) : Global Migration of Cultural Heritage:
Transplanting Dunhuang Art in Hong Kong through Cultural Translation
Zhang Xin (Shanghai
International Studies University) : On the Syntactic Deceptive Equivalence: A
Critical Probe into the English Translation of The Seventh Day