The Sinophone in the mirror
Identity and translingualism in poetry self‑translation
Published online: 28 July 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.24138.gal
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.24138.gal
Abstract
In the recent yet widely explored research field of translation studies, little scholarly attention has been paid
to contemporary Sinophone literature and especially to the genre of poetry, despite its paramount importance within the Chinese
literary tradition. This paper attempts to contribute to the understanding of the complex phenomenon of poetic self-translation in
the translingual and translational Sinosphere by probing the lyrical self-translation of Chris Song. Song is a contemporary poet,
scholar, and editor born in China and now residing in Toronto, who attunes his acquired Anglophone self with his original
Sinophone identity, which in turn comprises both Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese. Song’s views on such activity expressed via his
responses to my queries are presented alongside my critical reflection on his poetics of self-translation, carried out through a
close reading of his bilingual lyrical collection Zishi zhi hua 自噬之花 / mirror me (Song, Chris (Song Zijiang 宋子江). 2017. Zishi zhi
hua 自噬之花 [Mirror
Me]. Macao and Brisbane: Association of Stories in Macao & Cerberus Press.).
Keywords: poetry, self-translation, translingualism, Chinese, Sinosphere
Résumé
Dans le domaine de recherche récent, mais largement exploré, des études de traduction, peu d’attention
académique a été accordée à la littérature sinophone contemporaine et en particulier au genre de la poésie, malgré son importance
primordiale au sein de la tradition littéraire chinoise. Cet article vise à contribuer à la compréhension du phénomène de
l’autotraduction poétique dans la sinosphère translingue et translationnelle en examinant l’autotraduction lyrique de Chris Song.
Poète contemporain, chercheur et éditeur, né en Chine et actuellement professeur adjoint de traduction à Toronto, Song harmonise
son identité anglophone acquise avec son identité sinophone d’origine, qui englobe à la fois le mandarin et le cantonais. Les
perspectives de Song sur cette activité, exprimées dans ses réponses à mes questions, sont présentées aux côtés de ma réflexion
critique sur sa poétique de l’auto-traduction, basée sur une lecture de sa collection lyrique bilingue Zishi zhi
hua 自噬之花 (Mirror
Me; Song, Chris (Song Zijiang 宋子江). 2017. Zishi zhi
hua 自噬之花 [Mirror
Me]. Macao and Brisbane: Association of Stories in Macao & Cerberus Press.).
Mots-clés : poésie, autotraduction, translingualisme, chinois, sinosphère
Article outline
- 1.“Sometimes I want to speak / but”
- 2.Contemporary Sinosphere and poetry self-translation: A few coordinates
- 3.“While Cantonese is my mother tongue...”
- 4.“I think of them as the same poem in different languages”
- 5.“The versions need not to be faithful to each other”
- 6.“The two versions influence one another”
- 7.Concluding remarks
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
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