{"id":5080,"date":"2022-01-25T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=5080"},"modified":"2022-01-09T20:50:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T03:50:58","slug":"klein-on-nappis-translating-early-modern-china-illegible-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=5080","title":{"rendered":"Klein on Nappi’s Translating Early Modern China: Illegible Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last month MCLC published my review of Translating Early Modern China: Illegible Cities <\/em><\/a>(Oxford UP) by Carla Nappi, a study of translation and multilingualism in late imperial China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I write:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illegible Cities <\/em>is an important work of history, arguing against the temptation in Sinology to reduce pre-twentieth-century China to what occurred in one language alone (\u201cSinology means the study of Chinese civilization as a coherent whole,\u201d wrote Frederick Mote in 1964, and \u201clanguage study is the only pass leading through the Great Wall and into the chung-yuan<\/em>\u201d [\u4e2d\u539f<\/em>]); more than that, it is an experimental joy of a read, a fun, challenging, exciting, only occasionally frustrating, book that not only makes a point, but constructs <\/em>it. Illegible Cities <\/em>\u201cattempts to use translation,\u201d Nappi writes, \u201cas a way to reconsider what language is, what languages are, and to begin to historically contextualize what we think of constituting a \u2018language.\u2019 Languages, here, are forms of practice that are constantly being invented and enacted.\u201d And so is this book: a form of practice in constant process of being invented and enacted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Click on the image to read the review in full.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month MCLC published my review of Translating Early Modern China: Illegible Cities (Oxford UP) by Carla Nappi, a study of translation and multilingualism in late imperial China. I write: Illegible Cities is an important work of history, arguing against … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,814],"tags":[878,462],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-1jW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1610,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1610","url_meta":{"origin":5080,"position":0},"title":"New Books in East Asian Studies: interview with Michael Gibbs Hill","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"What do \u201cRip van Winkle,\u201d Oliver Twist, Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin, and Aesop\u2019s Fables have in common? All of them were translated into Chinese by Lin Shu (Lin Qinnan, 1852-1924), a major force in the literary culture of late Qing and early Republican China. In Lin Shu, Inc.: Translation and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1663,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1663","url_meta":{"origin":5080,"position":1},"title":"Notes on the Mosquito on New Books on East Asian Studies","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Carla Nappi of New Books in East Asian Studies spoke with me (yes, me!) about my translation of Xi Chuan's Notes on the Mosquito: Selected Poems. Here's her flattering write-up: First things first: this is a book of amazing, beautiful poetry, and you should read it. In translating Xi Chuan\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1640,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1640","url_meta":{"origin":5080,"position":2},"title":"New Books in East Asian Studies: interview with Bruce Rusk","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"What makes something a poem? What defines \u201cpoetry,\u201d and how has that changed over space and time? Critics and Commentators: The \u2018Book of Poems\u2019 as Classic and Literature (Harvard University Press, 2012) considers such questions as they chart a path through literary studies in Chinese history. 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From the intro: Goodman offers a fascinating introduction to the work of this \"poet of place.\" Wang's poetry evokes a sense of dislocation and distances traveled, a sense of isolation while being embedded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61RnWmF7MBL._SX372_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1443,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1443","url_meta":{"origin":5080,"position":4},"title":"Cosima Bruno podcast on Translation & the poetry of Yang Lian","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"December 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On New Books in East Asian Studies, Carla Nappi interviews Cosima Bruno about her new book on translation and the poetry of Yang Lian \u6768\u70bc: Cosima Bruno\u2019s new book asks us to consider a deceptively simple question: what is the relationship between a poem and its translation? 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