Literary Translation as Cultural Encounter: Classical Chinese Literature in the World

Abstract

Exploring classical Chinese literature and its translation through the centuries highlights the nature of translation as cultural encounter. The dissemination and reception of these cultural artefacts are affected by changing historical and sociocultural contexts and interactions between various agents of translation. In this introduction the editors provide an overview of all the chapters in the volume, which is divided into two parts. Part I comprises diverse scholarship on the translation of classical Chinese literature, incorporating a variety of disciplinary approaches and methodologies, by researchers in Asia, Australia, the US and Europe. Part II provides a unique platform for translators to reflect on their own experiences reading and translating classical Chinese literature. By forefronting the translators’ voices, we demonstrate the nature of translation as research, enabling the contributions to function as paratexts for readers and scholars of the translations.