Article published In: Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 17:2 (2022) ► pp.199–219
Yinbian yanyu in twentieth-century China
A case of translaboration
Published online: 28 January 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.19045.dai
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.19045.dai
Abstract
The blended concept of translaboration has received considerable attention since 2015 when it was introduced by Alexa Alfer and colleagues. Yinbian yanyu [An English Poet Reciting from Afar], Lin Shu and Wei Yi’s collaborative translation of Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare, is a typical product of translaboration in twentieth-century China. Following a social historiographical path, this article seeks to identify contributions of the various stakeholders who participated in the production of Yinbian yanyu as well as its reception. By exploring what role translaboration played in the success of this translation, this article aims to present a more comprehensive view of translaboration as a concept and its applicability as an interdisciplinary tool.
Keywords: translaboration, Yinbian yanyu, stakeholders, twentieth-century China
Article outline
- Introduction
- The interpreter: Assistant or mentor?
- Patrons, readers, and the written translator: Heading toward an Inc.?
- The historical context and criticism: From a pound of flesh to an inch of territory?
- Conclusion
- Notes
References
References (54)
Alfer, Alexa. 2017. “Entering the Translab: Translation as collaboration, collaboration as translation, and the third space of ‘translaboration’.” Translation and Translanguaging in Multicultural Contexts 3(3): 275–290.
Benjamin, Walter. 2002. “The task of the translator.” In Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings Volume 1 1913–1926, ed. by Marcus Bullock and Michael W. Jennings, 253–263. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Bistué, Belén. 2017. “On the incorrect way to translate: The absence of collaborative translation from Leonardi Bruni’s De interpretatione recta.” In Collaborative Translation: From the Renaissance to the Digital Age, ed. by Anthony Cordingley and Céline Frigau Manning, 33–48. London: Bloomsbury.
Cao, Shujun and Sun Fuliang. 1989. Shashibiya zai zhongguo wutaishang [Shakespeare on Chinese Stages]. Shenyang: Ha’erbing Press.
Carlisle, Paul R. 2004. “Transferring, translating, and transforming: An integrative framework for managing knowledge across boundaries.” Organization Science 15(5): 555–568.
Chang, Kang-I Sun and Stephen Owen (eds). 2010. The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature Volume II: From 1375. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chen, Pingyuan. 1989. Ershi shiji zhongguo xiaoshuoshi [A History of the Twentieth Century Chinese Fiction]. Beijing: Beijing University Press.
Dai, Yun-fang. 2021. “Power imbalance in translaboration: A perspective from Chinese translation history.” Neohelicon 481: 599–612.
Fitzgerald, Percy (ed). 1971. The Life, Letters, and Writings of Charles Lamb vol. II. New York: For Libraries Press.
Gentzler, Edwin. 2004. Contemporary Translation Theories. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Gray, Barbara. 1989. Collaborating: Finding Common Ground for Multiparty Problems. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Guarde-Paz, César. 2015a. “A translator in the shadows of early Republican China: Lin Shu’s position in modern Chinese literature: An overview.” Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies 63(1): 172–192.
Hanan, Patrick. 2004. Chinese Fiction of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. New York: Columbia University Press.
Heller, Lavinia and Spencer Hawkins. 2020. “Translaboration as legitimation of philosophical translation.” Target 32(2): 239–260.
Hill, Michael Gibbs. 2013. Lin Shu, Inc.: Translation and the Making of Modern Chinese Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
. 2016. “On not knowing: Translation, knowledge work, and modern literature.” In The Oxford Handbook of Modern Chinese Literatures, ed. by Carlos Rojas and Andrea Bachner, 131–148. New York: Oxford University Press.
. 2017. “Eliza crosses the ice – and an ocean – and Uncle Toms’ Cabin arrives in China.” In A New Literary History of Modern China, ed. by David Der-wei Wang, 173–178. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Hu, Shih. 1993. “Jianshede wenxue geming lun [Constructive literary revolution].” In Hushi xueshuwenji: xinwenxue yundong [The academic collection of Hu Shih: The New Culture Movement], ed. by Shen Ji, 40–54. Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore.
Jansen, Hanne and Anne Wegener. 2013. “Multiple translatorship.” In Authorial and Editorial Voices in Translation 1: Collaborative Relationships between Authors, Translators and Performers, ed. by Hanne Jansen and Anne Wegener, 1–39. Montreal: Éditions québécoises de l’oeuvre.
Lin, Shu and Wei Yi (trans). 1905. “Rouquan.” Guangyi Congbao [Benefiting the Mass Journal] 93–941: 163–169.
Lin, Shu. 2002. “Heinu yutian lu xu [Preface to A Chronicle of the Black Servant’s Appeals to Heaven].” In Tiebi jinzhen linshu wenxuan [The Iron Brush and Gold Needle: Select works of Lin Shu], ed. by Xu Guiting, 1–2. Tianjin: Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House.
Lin, Yingnan. 2015. “Yige shijiushiji shajuyanyuan de zhongguo xunyanzhilv: jianlun bandeman yu wanqing shaju zaihua yanchushi shuxie [A Nineteenth Century Shakespearean Actor’s Tour in China: Bandmann and the Documentary History of Shakespeare on the Stage of Late Qing].” In Haishang zhenzhen: Hongloumeng ji mingqing wenxuewenhua lunwenji, ed. by Kang Laixin, 571–602. Taipei: Liren Bookstore.
Lin, Yuanbiao. 2012. “Weiyi de fanyi [On Wei Yi’s translations].” Foreign Language Learning Theory and Practice 31: 91–97.
Love, Harold. 2002. Attributing Authorship: An Introduction. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Massidda, Serenella. 2015. Audiovisual Translation in the Digital Age: The Italian Fansubbing Phenomenon. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Meng, Xianqiang. 2010. “Shakespeare in China, before the People’s Republic.” In Shakespeare and Asia, ed. by Douglas A. Brooks, 127–159. Dyfed: The Edwin Mellen Press.
Mersmann, Birgit. 2020. “Photo-translation: Collaborative practice in migration image research.” Target 32(2): 191–216.
Pott, F. L. Hawks. 1972. St. John’s University, 1879–1929. Taipei: St. John’s University Alumni Association.
Qian, Xingcun (A Ying). 1966. Wanqing xiaoshuoshi [A history of late Qing fiction]. Hong Kong: Taiping Bookstore.
Qian, Zhongshu. 1982. “Linshu de fanyi [On Lin Shu’s translations].” In Linshu yanjiu ziliao [Research materials on Lin Shu], ed. by Xue Suizhi and Zhang Juncai, 292–323. Fuzhou: People’s Publishing House.
San, Mu. 2018. “‘Xizihupan’ de ‘yiyou’ – linshu he weiyi [The friends of translation at the West Lake – Lin Shu and Wei Yi].” Shuwu 11: 39–45.
Shi, Daoxuan. 1960. Gaosengzhuan erji [The Second Collection of the Biographies of Eminent Monks]. Taipei: Taiwan Yinjingchu.
Tarumoto, Teruo. 2007. “Cases of false accusation to Lin Qinnan – Lin’s translations of Shakespeare and Ibsen.” National ChengChi University Chinese Journal 81: 1–12.
Tsha, T. W. 1972. St. John’s University, 1879–1929. Taipei: St. John’s University Alumni Association.
Wang, David Der-wei. 1997. Fin-de-Siècle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849–1911. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Wong, Wang-chi. 1999. “An act of violence: Translation of Western fiction in the late Qing and early Republican period.” In The Literary Field of Twentieth Century China, ed. by Michel Hockx, 21–39. Richmond: Curzon Press.
Wood, Donna and Barbara Gray. 1991. “Toward a comprehensive theory of collaboration.” Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 27(2): 139–162.
Yang, Huilin. 2015. “Christian implication and non-Christian translation: A case study of The Merchant of Venice in the Chinese context.” Studies in Chinese Religions 1(1): 82–90.
Zan, Ning. 1993. Song gaosengzhuan [The biographies of eminent monks written in song]. Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore.
Zeng, Xianhui. 1982. “Linshu zhuan [The biography of Lin Shu].” In Linshu yanjiu ziliao [Research Materials on Lin Shu], ed. by Xue Suizhi and Zhang Juncai, 3–10. Fuzhou: People’s Publishing House.
Zielinska-Elliott, Anna and Ika Kaminka. 2017. “Online multilingual collaboration: Jaruki Marakami’s European translators.” In Collaborative Translation: From the Renaissance to the Digital Age, ed. by Anthony Cordingley and Céline Frigau Manning, 167–191. London: Bloomsbury.
Zwischenberger, Cornelia. 2016. “The policy maker in conference interpreting and its hegemonic power.” Translation Spaces 5(2): 200–221.
. 2017. “Translation as a metaphoric traveller across disciplines. Wanted: Translaboration!” Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 3(3): 388–406.
