Journal |
Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale
Journal issue | 61 | 2025 | Supplemento
Research Article | Envisioning Readers and Shaping Knowledge: Two Instances of Textual Intersections Between China and Italy in the Early Twentieth Century
Envisioning Readers and Shaping Knowledge: Two Instances of Textual Intersections Between China and Italy in the Early Twentieth Century
Abstract
Within the construction framework of China Knowledge, a crucial role has been played by translations as creations of texts whose purposes clearly went beyond the transfer of meanings among different languages and cultures, thus becoming agencies in the shaping of a translingual space where Target Language and Source Language constantly interact. The process of transmission and acquisition of literary texts will be analysed here from two different kinds of approach and perspectives, represented by Mario Novaro (1868‑1944), a non-sinologist who carved out the earliest Italian translation of the Zhuangzi (1922), and Agostino Biagi (1882‑1957), a former Franciscan missionary in China whose legacy of manuscripts has recently been discovered and acclaimed, especially for his outstanding Chinese translation of Dante’s Divina Commedia.
Submitted: July 6, 2024 | Accepted: Jan. 9, 2025 | Published May 30, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords Agostino Biagi • Italy-China cultural exchange • Zhuangzi • Daoism • Mario Novaro
Copyright © 2025 Luca Pisano. 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.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2025/02/009
