Center for East Asian Studies, University of Chicago: East Asia by the Book! CEAS Author Talks ft. Haun Saussy w/Martin Powers (Discussant)

Hear Haun Saussy discuss his book, The Making of Barbarians: Chinese Literature and Multilingual Asia, NEXT WEEK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16^th at 7 PM US Central Time during this VIRTUAL talk on Zoom.

Debates on the canon, multiculturalism, and world literature often take Eurocentrism as the target of their critique. But literature is a universe with many centers, and one of them is China. The Making of Barbarians offers an account of world literature in which China, as center, produces its own margins. This book investigates the meanings of literary translation, adaptation, and appropriation on the boundaries of China long before it came into sustained contact with the West. Professor Saussy focuses on the period before 1850, when the translation of foreign works into Chinese was rare because Chinese literary tradition overshadowed those around it. This publication looks closely at literary works that were translated into Chinese from foreign languages or resulted from contact with alien peoples. It explores why translation was such an undervalued practice in premodern China, and how this vast and prestigious culture dealt with those outside it before a new group of foreigners—Europeans—appeared on the horizon.

*Martin Powers will serve as Discussant. Professor Powers is Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan.

 This event is co-sponsored with the Seminary Co-op Bookstores.

Click HERE to REGISTER for this FREE virtual event!