The Scarlet Letter in China

Abstract

since 1934, when the first Chinese translation came out, the novel has been a favorite not only with scholars and critics but also with the average reader who knows little about American society. The fact that, within less than half a century, three different translations of the book have been published and numerous articles have been written on the author and the work is testament to its popularity among Chinese readers. Unlike in most other countries, however, The Scarlet Letter has been treated and evaluated in three different ways in China during the past fifty years. The prefaces to the three different translations published in 1934, 1954, and 1981, serving as critical introductions of the great work of Nathaniel Hawthorne to the Chinese reading public, reveal the different approaches to literary criticism that China has undergone: Westernstyle criticism before 1949 (the year the Chinese Revolution achieved its victory); Sovietstyle criticism dominant in China in the 1950s and the early 60s; and finally the more sophisticated and independent Chinese criticism developed during the post-Mao era. In this sense, it is perhaps no exaggeration to say that in China no other American or Western literary work has been subject to such tumultuous critical tests. And if we examine the three different translations more closely, we realize what an arduous journey Chinese critics have undertaken.