1887
Volume 19, Issue 1
  • ISSN 1932-2798
  • E-ISSN: 1876-2700
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Lin Yutang 林语堂 (1895–1976) was a Chinese American writer based in the USA who produced thirty English works interpreting Chinese philosophy to a western audience between 1936 and 1966. Lin’s critics often accuse him of succumbing to colonial power dynamics between China and the west. (), published by the John Day Company in 1952, is a particularly revealing case in point. contains twenty tales selected from ancient Chinese culture, edited, and rewritten in English using western storytelling techniques. In response to critiques of Lin’s works including as being Orientalist, I re-examine the intricate process of Lin’s rewriting to reveal a more complex stance vis-à-vis Orientalism, characterizing his cultural position as that of a ‘partial’ Orientalist. This term implies that Lin recognizes the potential of Chinese tradition to provide an alternative modernity.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/tis.21043.liu
2022-07-18
2024-12-02
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Baker, Mona
    2007 “Reframing conflict in translation.” Social Semiotics17(2): 151–169. 10.1080/10350330701311454
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330701311454 [Google Scholar]
  2. Daruvala, Susan
    2020Zhou Zuoren and an Alternative Chinese Response to Modernity. Leiden: Brill.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Dirlik, Arif
    1996 “Chinese history and the question of Orientalism.” History and Theory35(4): 96–118. 10.2307/2505446
    https://doi.org/10.2307/2505446 [Google Scholar]
  4. Kow, Simon
    2014 “Enlightenment universalism? Bayle and Montesquieu on China.” The European Legacy19(3): 347–358. 10.1080/10848770.2014.898927
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10848770.2014.898927 [Google Scholar]
  5. Handler, Spitz Rivi
    2012 “The importance of cannibalism: Montaigne’s essays as a vehicle for the cultural translation of Chineseness in Lin Yutang’s The Importance of Living.” Compilation and Translation Review5(1): 121–158.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Laughlin, Charles
    2015 “Lin Yutang’s unique adoption of tradition.” InThe Cross-Cultural Legacy of Lin Yutang: Critical Perspectives, ed. bySuoqiao Qian, 38–48. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Lee, Madalina Yuk-Ling
    2009 “The intellectual origins of Lin Yutang’s cultural internationalism, 1928–1938.” MA thesis, University of Maryland.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Lin, Yutang
    1935 “Xiaopin wen zhi yixu小品文之遗续” [The Inherited Business of xiaopin wen]. Renjian shi, February20.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. 1936a “Ji xingling记性灵” [On xingling]. Youzhou feng111: 525–526.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. 1936bMy Country and My People. London: W. Heinemann.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. 1937The Importance of Living. New York: John Day Company.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. 1952Famous Chinese Short Stories: Retold by Lin Yutang. New York: John Day Company.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. 1994 “Lun wen” 论文 [On literature]. InXing Su Ji, Pi Jing Ji行素集,披荆集 [My own way, Trailblazer], 145–157. Changchun: Northeast Normal University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Liu, Lydia H.
    1999Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity: China 1900–1937. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Nye, Joseph S.
    2008 “Public diplomacy and soft power.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science6161: 94–109. 10.1177/0002716207311699
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716207311699 [Google Scholar]
  16. Ong, Chang Woei
    2016Li Mengyang, the North-South Divide, and Literati Learning in Ming China. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Centre.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Ouyang, Zhesheng
    2016 “Expanding the discursive domain of research on the New Culture Movement: An incomplete review of studies on the New Culture Movement.” Chinese Studies in History49(2): 90–101. 10.1080/00094633.2015.1132927
    https://doi.org/10.1080/00094633.2015.1132927 [Google Scholar]
  18. Qian, Suoqiao
    2011Liberal Cosmopolitan: Lin Yutang and the Middling Chinese Modernity. Leiden: Brill.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. 2015 “Western universalism and Chinese identity: Lin Yutang as a cross-cultural critic.” InThe Cross-Cultural Legacy of Lin Yutang: Critical Perspectives, ed. bySuoqiao Qian, 1–16. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. 2017Lin Yutang and China’s Search for Modern Rebirth. Singapore: Palgrave.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Said, Edward W.
    1978Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Sample, Joe
    2015 “His country and his language: Lin Yutang and the interpretation of things Chinese.” InThe Cross-Cultural Legacy of Lin Yutang: Critical Perspectives, ed. bySuoqiao Qian, 185–200. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Sohigian, Diran John
    1991 “The life and times of Lin Yutang.” PhD diss., Columbia University.
  24. 2015 “Lin Yutang’s criticism of criticism of criticism: On self-expression in China and America.” InThe Cross-Cultural Legacy of Lin Yutang: Critical Perspectives, ed. bySuoqiao Qian, 115–142. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty
    1999A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10.2307/j.ctvjsf541
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjsf541 [Google Scholar]
  26. Sze, Mai-Mai
    1952 “The sauce is Chinese.” The New York Times, May18 1952.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Vukovich, Daniel F.
    2013China and Orientalism: Western Knowledge Production and the P.R.C.London: Taylor and Francis. 10.4324/9780203145579
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203145579 [Google Scholar]
  28. Wang, Shaodi
    2007 “A cross-cultural study on Lin Yutang’s translation: Orientalism versus an attachment to the Oriental culture.” PhD diss., Shanghai International Studies University.
  29. Wang, Zengqi
    1998 “Liaozhai xinyi聊斋新义 [New Interpretations of Liaozhai].” inWang Zengqi quanji汪曾祺全集二 [The Complete Works of Wang Zengqi, Volume II], 240–245. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing Group.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. 1998 “Liaozhai xinyi houji聊斋新义后记 [Postscript to ‘New Interpretations of Liaozhai’].” inWang Zengqi quanji汪曾祺全集四 [The Complete Works of Wang Zengqi, Volume IV], 295–304. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing Group.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. 1998 “Renshi daode he meiyou renshi de ziji认识到的和没有认识的自己 [The Self Whom I Know And Do Not Know].” InWang Zengqi quanji汪曾祺全集四 [The Complete Works of Wang Zengqi, Volume IV], 300–301. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Wilson, Edmund
    1945 “The Americanization of Lin Yutang.” New Yorker, February3 1945.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Yuan, Hongdao
    1964 “Wenchao文钞” [Selected Works]. InYuan Zhonglang quanji袁中郎全集 [The Complete Works of Yuan Hongdao], 1–61. Taipei: World Book Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Zhang, Junmai
    1981 Zhong Xi Yin zhexue wenji中西印哲学文集 [Essays on Chinese, Western and Indian Philosophy]. Taipei: Taiwan Student Book Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Zhou, Zuoren
    1937 “Du wan Ming xiaopin xuanzhu读晚明小品选注” [On Reading Selected and Annotated xiaopin of the Late Ming].” Yishi bao, May6.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/tis.21043.liu
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/tis.21043.liu
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Lin Yutang 林语堂; orientalism; rewriting; soft power; tradition–modernity binary
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error