Translating into Modernity: Nalai-ism in the First Chinese Translation of Robinson Crusoe

Ren  Haiyan

doi:10.22409/gragoata.v30i67.68046.en

Auteurs

Ren Haiyan Hunan Normal University, Foreign Studies College. Changsha, China.

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.v30i67.68046.en

Mots-clés :

Robinson Crusoe, Nalai-ism, translation, modernity

Résumé

Jue Dao Piao Liu Ji, the first Chinese translation of Robinson Crusoe, is but one of the nalai-istic translations at the turn of the 20^th century in China. As a response to sudden external pressures in a time of existential crisis for the nation, these translations prioritize social-historical efficacy as the primary criterion. They no longer desire to serve two masters nor get caught in the so-called tragedy of the translator being torn between betrayal and loyalty. Instead, as is demonstrated by Jue Dao Piao Liu Ji, nalai-istic translations utilize the undercurrent of violence resulted from foreignness in translation to impact and dismantle the closed structures of the receiving culture. Nalai-istic translation demonstrates not only openness and dialogic intent, but also involve the translator’s play of and with the receiving culture’s center, which as a trans-visionary creation gives birth to a new vision distinct from both the source text and the original receiving culture. As a historical specimen, Shen Zufen and his Jue Dao Piaoliu Ji serves as a trace and reminder: it is translation that translates China into modernity.

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Biographie de l'auteur

Ren Haiyan, Hunan Normal University, Foreign Studies College. Changsha, China.

Ren Haiyan is Professor of English Literature at Foreign Studies College of Hunan Normal University in Changsha, China. She is also the co-founder and deputy director of the Humboldt Center for Transdisciplinary Studies. Her special fields of research include travel literature, critical theory and Humboldtian Studies. She is the author of Robinson Crusoe on the Move: The Knowledge and Imagination of the Modern West (2023).

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