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Reception and Translation of Western Literature in China in 1930s: A Case of Translation

Kim Sojung 1

1부산대학교 한국민족문화연구소

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study examines the process of creating a new cultural meaning and its path of acceptance, translation characteristics with the Translation which are published in from 1934 year to 1937 year. This magazine is the first literary magazine to translate only foreign literature in China, so it is very meaningful not only for Chinese magazine development but also in China's history of translation. At the beginning of the foundation, Lu Xun was in charge of editing, and then this work was handed over to Huang Yuan from No.3. The magazine was published on September 16, 1935, Vol.2, No.6, and after five months of suspension, it was reissued on March 16, 1936. The Translation intensively translated and introduced to literature of the weak and small nations that was similar to the situation of China under the invasion of imperialist powers, and the Russian and Soviet literature and criticism. Among the writers of Western powers such as France, Britain and the United States, the magazine just introduced the progressive and revolutionary writers who, on the basis of democratic thought and humanitarianism, have depicted the darkness and sin of capitalism, for example the works by Charles Dickens, Jack London, Bernard Shaw, Merime, Flaubert, Andre Gide, Roman Roland, François Coppée, Upton Sinclair, Emil Zola and Alexander Berkman. It is worth noting that the criticism of Russian and Soviet critics on these writers was intensively introduced. The magazine was engrossed in introducing Western realism traditions and translated various types such as critical realism, satirical realism, grotesque realism, and proletarian realism. It highly valued the artist who exposed the contradictions and dark images of feudal society and capitalist powers. The magazine supported realism literature that truly depicts the daily lives of the people who lived in the transition from feudal times to modern times. In their practice of translation, they thought about how the artist could contribute to describing people's lives and improving them.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.