Home > Catalogue > Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale > 57 | 2021 > Between Rigor and Reverence. Yu Dafu and His Views on Translation

Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale | Vol. 57 | June 2021

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Research Article

Between Rigor and Reverence. Yu Dafu and His Views on Translation

Paolo Magagnin    Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia    

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abstract

Despite his prominence in modern Chinese literature and the significant role played by translation in his literary career, Yu Dafu’s (1896-1945) activity as a translation theorist and practitioner remains largely unexplored. Yu translated into Chinese a number of short stories, treatises, and poems by such authors as Wilde, Twain, Sinclair, Nietzsche, and Rousseau; he also devoted several essays to the issue of translation and its practice. Through an analysis of Yu’s theoretical writings, I aim to provide a brief account of his reflections on the subjectivity of the translator, the principles of a desirable translating practice, the relation between translation and original writing, and the cultural significance of translation. By doing so, I wish to highlight the seminal role played by such a reflection in Yu’s artistic career, as well as the specificity of his contribution within the intellectual debate on translation in his time.

Published
June 30, 2021
Accepted
May 11, 2021
Submitted
Jan. 14, 2021
Language
EN

Keywords: Translation • Literary creation • Yu Dafu • Theory of translation • Cultural innovation

permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2021/01/016

Copyright: © 2021 Paolo Magagnin. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.