1st Edition

Translating Foreign Otherness Cross-Cultural Anxiety in Modern China

By Yifeng Sun Copyright 2018
    176 Pages
    by Routledge

    182 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book explores the deep-rooted anxiety about foreign otherness manifest through translation in modern China in its endeavours to engage in cross-cultural exchanges. It offers to theorize and contextualize a related range of issues concerning translation practice in response to foreign otherness. The book also introduces new vistas to some of the under-explored aspects of translation practice concerning ideology and cultural politics from the late Qing dynasty to the present day. Largely as a result of translation, ethnocentric beliefs and feelings have given way to a more open and liberal way to approach and appropriate foreign otherness. However, the fear of Westernization, seen as a threat to Chinese cultural integrity and social stability, is still shown sporadically through the state’s ideological control over translation. The book interprets, questions and reformulates a number of the key theoretical issues in Translation Studies and also demonstrates their ramifications in a bid to shed light on Chinese translation practice.

    Introduction

    1. Translation and Cross-Cultural Anxiety

    2. Authenticating Translation

    3. Diaspora and Foreignizing Translation

    4. (Un)translatability and Readability

    5. Violence and Translation Discourse

    6. Opening the Cultural Mind

    7. Attitudes, Feelings and Affective Interactions

    8. Translation in the Age of Glocalization.

    Conclusion

    Biography

    Yifeng Sun is Professor of Translation Studies, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Director of the Centre for Humanities Research at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He is also Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland and Adjunct Chair Professor at Jinan University, China.

    'Sun Yifeng is one of the most trenchant commentators I know on Chinese ambivalence toward translation, and through translation, toward foreign otherness. Hailing from Western China but based in Hong Kong, Prof. Sun is ideally positioned to explore that ambivalence, and he does so in a measured, thoughtful, and solidly researched way. An excellent book!'Douglas Robinson, Chair Professor of English, Hong Kong Baptist University