Chinese Literature in English Sinology
Cultural Translation of Literary Knowledge, 1807–1901
Provides the first comprehensive account of the discursive formation of knowledge about Chinese literature produced by British Sinologists in the nineteenth century
- Draws on diverse primary sources to provide the first comprehensive account of knowledge about Chinese literature in English Sinology
- Offers new insights into how Chinese literature was understood as a knowledge category in the Anglophone world in the nineteenth century
- Discusses the significance of literature knowledge in cultural history
- Contributes to a growing body of research on the history and process of literary and cultural encounters between China and the West
Chinese Literature in English Sinology takes an exciting new approach to Sino-British literary and cultural encounters in the nineteenth century, focusing specifically on British Sinologists’ study of Chinese literature in the English language. It provides the first comprehensive exploration of their writings on Chinese literature as a form of literary knowledge constructed through the process of cultural translation—a translingual and transcultural rewriting. The analysis reveals the interaction between Chinese and English literary concepts and paradigms in their study that gave rise to ideas about Chinese literature still influential today.
Drawing attention to the political implication of literary knowledge, this book also demonstrates that Sinologists’ interpretation of Chinese literature played an important role in shaping the British cultural imagination of China. Tracing this uncharted history, Chinese Literature in English Sinology contributes to present and future debates on the intercultural reading and studies of Chinese literature by offering a genealogical understanding of its origins and ramifications.
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction: From Literature to Literary Knowledge
1. Conceptualising Chinese Literature in English Sinology
2. The Anatomy of Chinese Literature: Expository Study
3. Through a Different Lens: Comparative Study
4. Toward a History of Chinese Literature: Historical Study
Conclusion: The Organisation of Literary Knowledge
Bibliography
Index
This is an astute, well-researched, and highly informative investigation of the writings of those collectively termed British Sinologists, who before the twentieth century engaged with Chinese sources to build up their own style of literary knowledge of China’s traditions. A fine scholarly achievement and a true intercultural feast.
This fascinating book uses extensive and sensitive reading of the often hard-to-find 19th-century literature on China to tell the extraordinary story of the discovery and deepening understanding of this great ‘cultural other’, correcting the widespread but mistaken option that the West only began to understand China in the twentieth century. Ji documents with incisive clarity the importance of the broad humanistic foundation that informed these early pioneers.
Offers a vital historical account of how Chinese literature was first understood and represented in the English- speaking world. Ji succeeds in showing that these early intellectual efforts were instrumental in constructing the body of knowledge about Chinese literature that still influences how the West perceives Chinese culture today.
