Abstract
Abstract This contribution on Léon de Rosny 羅尼 (1837–1914), the founder of modern Japanese Studies in France, deals with the trajectory of his formation and track record in Chinese and Japanese Studies. It highlights the role and significance his training in Chinese Studies under the guidance of Stanislas Julien played in his scholarly development and orientation, both as a sinologist and a japanologist. A self-taught student of the Japanese language, he pioneered the development of teaching material for Japanese language and literature, while also producing scholarly translations of classical literature, both Chinese and Japanese. We clearly discern a trajectory: the initial focus is on the study of Chinese, it subsequently shifts towards Japanese Studies from the 1850s on, to reach its apogee in the 1870s, while from the late 1870s on it appears to tilt towards Chinese Studies again. We conclude by an assessment of the merits and demerits of his scholarly production in these two areas of what was called “Oriental Studies” in the France of his time.
Highlights
This contribution assesses the scholarly formation of Léon de Rosny, the first incumbent of a chair of Japanese Studies in France
He is mainly known as a japanologist, this study stresses his solid grounding in Classical Chinese under the guidance of Stanislas Julien
3.2 Remarques sur quelques dictionnaires japonais et sur la nature des explications/observations qu’ils renferment (1858)8 In Rosny’s wording, this booklet presents some observations on the nature and the organisation of the dictionaries published by the Japanese, with the intention of facilitating their use for those interested in the Japanese language and literature
Summary
This contribution assesses the scholarly formation of Léon de Rosny, the first incumbent of a chair of Japanese Studies in France. Vande Walle liberated him from the earlier missionary lexicography, he did not quite succeed in compiling a more modern dictionary himself Likewise, in grammar, he was unable to completely outgrow the imprint left by João Rodriguez’s Arte da lingoa de Iapam. In 1863 he started teaching Japanese language and civilization at the École spéciale des langues orientales (東洋言語専門学校), and in 1868 he was formally appointed professor of Japanese at the said institution The apex of his career was probably his organisation of the first international conference of Orientalists in Paris in 1873. De l’Orient à l’Amérique, which was edited by Fabre-Muller, Leboulleux, and Rothstein (2014) This contribution is devoted to his achievements in two of the disciplines Rosny is most commonly associated with, i.e. the fields of Japanese and Chinese Studies. Biographical references will be limited to the most essential data
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