BookFronter
Translingual Practice by Lydia Liu

Translingual Practice

Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity—china, 1900-1937

Lydia Liu, Lydia H. Liu

Stanford University Press · Print & ebook · January 1, 1995

Are languages incommensurate?

Comparative LiteratureChinese HistoryChinese Literary Criticism
Buy on Amazon

We earn from qualifying purchases.

Who it’s for
This study traces how translated words and ideas shaped modern Chinese literature and national culture.
Genres
Chinese Literary Criticism, Comparative Literature, Chinese History
Published
Stanford University Press, January 1, 1995

Nearest books

Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved. Most of these share its genre: Chinese Literary Criticism.

  1. China in a Polycentric WorldYingjin Zhang70% matchAlso shares Comparative Literature
  2. Transpacific ImaginationsYunte Huang67% matchAlso shares Comparative Literature
  3. Western Literature in China and the Translation of a NationS. Qi, Shouhua Qi66% matchAlso shares Comparative Literature
  4. The Big Red Book of Modern Chinese LiteratureYunte Huang65% match
  5. Origins of Modern Japanese LiteratureKojin Karatani65% match
  6. Tales of Futures PastPaola Iovene63% match
  7. Changing Stories in the Chinese WorldMark Elvin63% matchAlso shares Chinese History
  8. Visions of Dystopia in China’s New Historical NovelsJeffrey Kinkley, Jeffrey C Kinkley63% match

For younger readers: China: Land of Dragons and Emperors, Imperialism, Sweet and Sour

Start with three books, and this one can be the first.

Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.

Start with this book

About this book

Are languages incommensurate? If so, how do people establish and maintain hypothetical equivalences between words and their meanings? What does it mean to translate one culture into the language of another on the basis of commonly conceived equivalences? This study—bridging contemporary theory, Chinese history, comparative literature, and culture studies—analyzes the historical interactions among China, Japan, and the West in terms of "translingual practice."

Continue reading

By this term, the author refers to the process by which new words, meanings, discourses, and modes of representation arose, circulated, and acquired legitimacy in early modern China as it contacted/collided with European/Japanese languages and literatures. In reexamining the rise of modern Chinese literature in this context, the book asks three central questions: How did "modernity" and "the West" become legitimized in May fourth literary discourse? What happened to native agency in this complex process of legitimation? How did the Chinese national culture imagine and interpret its own moment of unfolding?

Words Across Cultures

This study traces how translated words and ideas shaped modern Chinese literature and national culture.

Come here for

  • The historical exchange among China, Japan, and the West
  • Questions about equivalence, translation, and native agency

Expect

  • Attention to May Fourth literary discourse
  • Coverage of China from 1900 to 1937

Where it sits

Chinese Literary Criticism62%
Comparative Literature59%
Chinese History28%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Chinese Literary Criticism
Authors
Lydia Liu, Lydia H. Liu
Publisher
Stanford University Press
Published
January 1, 1995
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Chinese Literary Criticism