History of Translations of My Past and Thoughts by A. I. Herzen in China
Ji Panxin
Peoples Friendship University of Russia
Submitted: 30.01.2023
Abstract. The paper analyses the Chinese translations of Alexander Herzen’s work "My Past and Thoughts", with which Chinese readers have been familiar for more than a hundred years in one interpretation or another. The tradition of translating the Russian writer’s book of memoirs, which has developed in China, is of great interest in the aspect of intercultural and translation studies (from the first 1929 publication of the fragment "Mother’s Death", translated from English, to the modern ones, translated from the Russian original). The research aims to clarify the reasons, history and problems of translating A. I. Herzen’s work "My Past and Thoughts" in China. The paper is the first to present the history of translation of Herzen’s work "My Past and Thoughts" in China, to analyse the reception of A. I. Herzen’s creative work in China from the standpoint of translation, to identify the problems and causes of their occurrence. This accounts for the scientific novelty of the research. As a result, it has been shown that the singularity of the reception of Herzen’s creative work by Chinese intellectuals and the reading public is closely related to the historical and cultural situation in the country, as well as the history of Sino-Russian intercivilisational relations. The history of translation of A. I. Herzen’s work "My Past and Thoughts" in China is almost a hundred years old, some objectively and subjectively occurring translation problems were identified during this period, which demonstrates the difference in the worldviews of translators and the development of the modern Chinese language and literature.
Key words and phrases: А. И. Герцен, мемуары «Былое и думы», художественный перевод, рецепция русской литературы в Китае, китайско-русские связи, A. I. Herzen, memoirs "My Past and Thoughts", literary translation, reception of Russian literature in China, Sino-Russian relations
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References:
Lenin V. I. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii: v 55-ti t. M.: Gospolitizdat, 1968. T. 21.