Translating Mark Twain: The construction of America in 1950s China

Abstract

AbstractMark Twain’s (1835–1910) works were systematically translated into Chinese in the 1950s. In an age when translating foreign literature was overwhelmingly pro‐Soviet, such a systematic translation endeavor of one American writer’s works is unusual and thus warrants further investigation. Building on previous studies that have revealed some textual features in the translations of Mark Twain’s works, the current study continues to explore the translational mechanism underlying these textual features. Exemplified by Mark Twain’s case, this study considers criticism (piping; 批評) and self‐criticism (ziwo piping; 自我批評) as an organizational structure that sustained and ensured a homogenized way of interpreting and translating foreign literature in the 1950s. Imposed on the translation of Western critical realist literature as represented by translating Mark Twain, the translational criticism structure guaranteed political correctness in understanding critical realism in socialist China as not only a literary style but also a testimony to historical progress.