Lin Shu as a translator: Striking a balance between domestication and foreignization at the turn of the twentieth century

Dai, Yun-fang

doi:10.1075/forum.20006.dai

Article published In:

FORUM
Vol. 18:2 (2020) ► pp.111–126

Lin Shu as a translator

Striking a balance between domestication and foreignization at the turn of the twentieth century

Yun-fang Dai | Nantong University

As a pioneer of Chinese translation, Lin Shu groped for a way out of the dichotomy to achieve a balance between foreignization and domestication. His domesticating strategies have enjoyed considerable attention from critics, whereas his foreignization has so far been largely ignored. Mainly concentrating on his collaborative translation, Yinbian yanyu, this essay opens a window to see Lin’s translation strategy as an inevitable mixture of domestication and foreignization, and throws light on the contradictory nature of Lin, identifying him as both a defender and an opponent of Confucian ideology, and as both an inheritor and an innovator of Chinese literary and linguistic traditions.

Keywords: Lin Shu, Domestication, Foreignization, Yinbian yanyu , late Qing

Article outline

1.A period of chaos, a period of transition
2.A defender of confucianism and its opponent
3.An inheritor and an initiator of literary tradition
4.Struggling on the fringe, balancing between the two
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
References

Published online: 11 November 2020

https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.20006.dai

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