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Mark Twain in China de Selina Lai-Henderson

Mark Twain in China

Autor Selina Lai-Henderson
en Limba Engleză Hardback – 12 mai 2015
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835–1910) has had an intriguing relationship with China that is not as widely known as it should be. Although he never visited the country, he played a significant role in speaking for the Chinese people both at home and abroad. After his death, his Chinese adventures did not come to an end, for his body of works continued to travel through China in translation throughout the twentieth century. Were Twain alive today, he would be elated to know that he is widely studied and admired there, and that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn alone has gone through no less than ninety different Chinese translations, traversing China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Looking at Twain in various Chinese contexts—his response to events involving the American Chinese community and to the Chinese across the Pacific, his posthumous journey through translation, and China's reception of the author and his work, Mark Twain in China points to the repercussions of Twain in a global theater. It highlights the cultural specificity of concepts such as "race," "nation," and "empire," and helps us rethink their alternative legacies in countries with dramatically different racial and cultural dynamics from the United States.
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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780804789646
ISBN-10: 0804789649
Pagini: 176
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.39 kg
Editura: Stanford University Press
Colecția Stanford University Press

Recenzii

"Pointing to Twain's declaration at the time of the Boxer Rebellion, 'I am a Boxer,' Lai-Henderson fills out the picture of Twain's anti-missionary position, adding helpfully to Susan Harris's discussion of the Phillippines in God Arbiters. This worthwhile study will appeal primarily to specialists . . . Recommended."—D.E. Sloane, CHOICE

"A fresh contribution to Mark Twain studies and to American literary studies, as well as to transnational American Studies, and cultural studies more broadly, this groundbreaking book will pave the way for future investigations of the many approaches that the author opens up for us."—Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Stanford University

"Lai-Henderson marshals the scholarship of translation studies to excellent effect, building both a historical and theoretical understanding of many of the Chinese editions of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The careful treatment of the language and the characterization of both Huck and Jim are salient and compelling."—Gregg Camfield, UC Merced

"Deftly framed and convincing, Lai-Henderson's study helps us to understand this interactive nexus across the American/Chinese literary republic in lucidly elaborated biographical detail, textual exemplification, and nationalglobal scope."—Rob Wilson, UC Santa Cruz

Notă biografică

Selina Lai-Henderson is Research Assistant Professor of American Studies at The University of Hong Kong.

Cuprins

Contents and Abstracts
0Introduction
chapter abstract

This chapter charts the continued popularity and influence of Mark Twain in the US and around the world a century after his death, and what prominent Chinese writers such as Lu Xun and Lao She have said about Twain as an American writer, anti-imperialist, and supporter of Chinese rights at home and abroad. Introducing Twain's lifelong connection with the Chinese and posthumous voyage in China, the chapter addresses the significant transition that Twain underwent in his attitudes toward the Chinese as a result of his global travels. While most Chinese scholars and readers tend to neglect Twain's early perception of and prejudice toward the Chinese, the introduction calls to attention the important correlation between the writer's moral journey and the posthumous impact of his work in China, and the necessity to consider this transition while examining the reasons to Twain's lasting popularity there.

1Sam Clemens the Missourian: Early Acquaintances With "Chinamen"
chapter abstract

This chapter begins with Clemens's early adventures in the American West in the 1860s. What Clemens witnessed in the frontier would contradict the founding ideals that he once learned as a child in Missouri. The everyday scenario of the American police and Irish oppression of the Chinese in the streets of San Francisco compelled him to reflect upon a country that was founded on democratic ideals but was also ironically plagued by racism. In 1870, Twain married and settled down with Olivia Langdon in New York. His father-in-law, Jervis Langdon, played an important role as an abolitionist in influencing Twain's racial attitude toward slavery. Around the same time, a figure that had an influence on Twain regarding the use of Chinese protagonists in his work was Bret Harte. The two collaborated on the play, "Ah Sin," which unfortunately brought the end of their friendship.

2From the Mississippi to the Big Sea: Voyages Across the Pacific
chapter abstract

This chapter examines the impact of two Pacific voyages that Twain undertook on his attitude toward the Chinese. Sent by the Sacramento Union as a correspondent to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) in 1866, Twain supported US annexation of the Islands and the importation of Chinese "coolie" labor to the plantations there. On this trip Twain became friends with Anson Burlingame, the then US Minister to China (1861-1867), who helped to deepen Twain's understanding of and acquaintance with the Chinese. As Twain revisited the Sandwich Islands thirty years later in 1895 as part of his lecture series along the equator, he had become increasingly skeptical of European, and soon after, American colonization by means of economic dominance and missionary involvements in foreign territories. The cultural and ethnic diversity that Twain encountered beyond the American shore complicated the racial assumptions that he grew up with in the slave-holding South.

3Mark Twain the Chinese Boxer: Reflections & Reformation of a Red-Hot Anti-Imperialist
chapter abstract

This chapter discusses Twain's anti-imperialist position and involvement with the American Anti-Imperialist League as he returned from Europe in 1900. Twain was infuriated as imperial powers including the US were taking land by force not only from the Chinese, but also from Filipinos, Cubans, and other people of color. What he once perceived as "human vermin" turned out to be nobler than many of the so-called "civilized" people. Admitting to once being a "red-hot imperialist," he returned home declaring himself a Chinese Boxer against European and American imperialism. The author discusses a few important anti-imperialist pieces, such as "To the Person Sitting in Darkness," "To My Missionary Critics," "The United States of Lyncherdom," and "The Fable of the Yellow Terror," and examines the factors that led Clemens to take issue with the Rev. William Ament and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM).

4Lighting Out for the Chinese Territory: Mark Twain's Posthumous Journey Across China
chapter abstract

This chapter explores the socio-historical and political background in China into which Twain was first introduced. Brought to Chinese readers by Liang Qichao during his exile in Japan in late Qing China, Twain's work indispensably contributed to the early process of transnationalism in the Chinese literary community across China, Japan, and the US. Huckleberry Finn, in particular, was used to revolutionize literature, language, and society in China as the nation was undergoing a series of westernization reforms and as a political tool during the Cold War era. Nevertheless, the travels of Huck Finn from the Chinese Mainland to Hong Kong and Taiwan during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) suggests that translating Twain's work in these places functioned in part as a means of distancing themselves from communism and Chinese civilization as it was being constructed in the Mainland at the time.

5Translation, Appropriation & Continuation: Huck Finn's Chinese Adventures in the late 20th Century & Beyond
chapter abstract

This chapter examines specific passages from Huck Finn and explores how Chinese translators approach Twain's work in the late 20th century and beyond¿how they conveyed appropriate contexts and elucidated elements that were unfamiliar to Chinese readers. Drawing on a few representative works of translation from different periods, the chapter explores some of the challenges that Chinese translators have been confronted with when it comes to translating the language of a fourteen-year-old boy, Pap Finn's racist attitude, and Jim's black vernacular. It looks at how Twain's work was used to portray America in different spatial and historical moments, as well as how American race relations get transposed into other cultural contexts, and whether the critiques of racism embodied in Twain's work get passed on to readers in China.

6Epilogue
chapter abstract

In the final chapter of Huckleberry Finn, Huck concluded that he "got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before." While Huck's refusal to be "sivilized" speaks of Twain's own skepticism about white Americans' construction of the term, the epilogue will present a somewhat different picture of what "sivilization" means when Huck Finn is put into different Chinese contexts, i.e. Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet. It concludes with an overview of the history and nature of Chinese culture and the frontier, and how it thereby influences the understanding of Huck Finn in China. It suggests that, however ironic, the brilliance and lasting popularity of Twain's work lies in it being effectively used to suit different political implications in politically-conflicting regions.

Descriere

Mark Twain in China explores Samuel Clemens's lifelong relationship with the Chinese and his posthumous reception in China.