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Article published In: FORUM
Vol. 20:1 (2022) ► pp.44–64

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“It is still light outside”

Reading and translating Se, Jie and Lust, Caution as world literature

 | Lingnan University
Published online: 15 June 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.21017.hui
Abstract
In the film adaptation of Lust, Caution, the importance of sex is apparent. This is not necessarily the case in Se, Jie. In Eileen Chang’s story, there is an interconnection between sex, death, and a ring. This relationship is portrayed differently in Julia Lovell’s Lust, Caution. Viewing Eileen Chang as world literature reveals similarities and differences between Se, Jie and Lust, Caution and their different thematic emphases. This article explores how the imageries of the ring, sex, and death are interrelated. The transaction involving the ring in Chang’s text is similar to a sexual transaction. Analyzing the difference between the source and the target texts reveals how Lovell places a “heavier” emphasis on women’s bodies, suggesting the suppression women suffer in a patriarchal society. While the thematic importance of death is also present in Lust, Caution, it is brought out by the notion of foreignness and undecipherability.
Résumé
Dans l’adaptation cinématographique de Lust, Caution, le thème du sexe prédomine. On ne peut pas en dire autant de Se, Jie. Dans la nouvelle d’Eileen Chang, l’histoire tourne plutôt autour de l’interconnexion entre le sexe, la scène, la mort et une bague. Cette relation est représentée différemment dans le Lust, Caution de Julia Lovell. Étudier Eileen Chang sous l’angle de la littérature mondiale révèle à la fois des similarités et des différences entre Se, Jie et Lust, Caution, en particulier eu égard à l’importance donnée aux différents thèmes de l’œuvre. Cet article examine les liens entre les imageries de la bague, du sexe et de la mort. La transaction impliquant la bague dans le texte de Chang est ainsi comparable à une transaction sexuelle. L’analyse des différences entre le texte source et la traduction permet de mettre en évidence comment Lovell met l’accent sur le corps des femmes, soulignant l’asservissement dont elles sont victimes dans une société patriarcale. Si le thème de la mort occupe également une certaine importance dans Lust, Caution, il est surtout mis en exergue au travers des notions d’étrangeté et d’impénétrabilité.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • I.Reading Eileen Chang as world literature
    • I.1Key figures in world literature: Damrosch, Moretti, and Casanova
    • I.2Doubts and queries: Spivak and Apter
    • I.3Literature for the planet and translation: Dimock and Venuti
    • I.4Previous studies of Eileen Chang as world literature
  • II.Reading Se, Jie with Lacan and Shakespeare
    • II.1Imageries of patriarchy in Se, Jie
    • II.2Reading the ring through Lacan’s “mirror stage”
    • II.3The ring and its association with sex in Shakespeare
    • II.4Reading Chang through imageries of sex and death
  • III.Reading Se, Jie in its translation – examining Lust, Caution
    • III.1The heaviness of taitai in Lust, Caution
    • III.2Taitai as the object of gaze – a foreignness within domestication
    • III.3The ring and the rope – different ways of presenting death
    • III.4Death and its resurrection through translation
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (43)
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