Research topic: Chinese translation of German literature in the 1920s.

1. The purpose, significance and current situation of the research.

Mr. Wei Maoping of Shanghai International Studies University once wrote a Textual Research on the History of German Literature Translation into Chinese-Late Qing Dynasty and Republic of China, which was published by Shanghai Foreign Education Institute in 2004. The author happened to see it in the library, which is the origin of the topic. In the introduction, it is mentioned that although the academic circles have made great achievements in discussing the history of China's translation literature in the past 20 years, there are few detailed historical materials about a single language (English and Japanese may be optimistic, but the situation of other small languages is worrying). This has also become the reason why Teacher Wei wrote this book. At the same time, however, Mr. Wei also expressed regret in the postscript: the source of his books is basically limited to the main libraries in Shanghai, and limited by the current library system and the level of bibliography compilation in China, it is inevitable that there are omissions and sometimes inaccuracies, especially the translations and annotations scattered in newspapers and periodicals all over the country, which are quite difficult to query.

In the same year, Professor Mo Guanghua of Sichuan International Studies University pointed out in the first issue of Foreign Literature Studies, Twenty Years of Comparative Literature Research between China and Germany, "In the field of comparative literature, the theoretical research of German literature translation can be said to be blank on the whole level, especially compared with the hot scenes of other foreign literature translation studies in China". I am afraid that the absence of German-Chinese translation studies has a lot to do with the unclearness of the history of translation literature between China and Germany.

In addition, Mr. Ye Juan from the Institute of Foreign Languages of China Academy of Social Sciences also wrote "The Significance of German Literature Translation into Chinese" for Mr. Wei's book in China Reading Newspaper:

As some commentators have pointed out, we must pay attention to two major backgrounds since the late Qing Dynasty. The vertical direction is the continuation of tradition, and the horizontal direction is the spread of western learning to the east. The spread of western learning to the east is an important filter and input port, which is translation. If we do not attach great importance to this factor, it will be difficult to deeply understand the formation and construction of "modern China". Therefore, in this sense, it is extremely necessary to clear up the translation history of China since modern times. "

The original intention of Mr. Ye Juan's critical article is obviously to arouse academic attention and in-depth study of the history of German literature translation through the publication of this book. Unfortunately, few people seem to respond to this effort. After the publication of Mr. Wei's works, there are few monographs on the translation and introduction history of German literature in China, and only a few short articles with familiar names occasionally appear in newspapers. So in 2006, Mr. Ye Juan brought up the old story in the article "Some Problems in the Early German Literature History in China": "China's research on German literature history is still only' Xiao He just showed a sharp corner', and a large number of historical facts have been lost, which needs someone to carefully collect, examine and identify, dust off and restore the face of history." However, I don't know whether the deficiency of this piece is still under study or put on hold again.

2. The main contents and basic ideas of the study.

In this case, we have an idea, can we make Mr. Wei's research as detailed as possible and go as deep as possible? It may not be realistic to make a comprehensive refinement and in-depth study based on the author's current academic level and the time node of Xiyuan Project, but it may be feasible to make a study on the Chinese translation of German literature within ten years. As students of German Language and Literature Department, we also look forward to making a modest contribution to the study of German literature history in China through the practice of this project.

On this basis, we chose the 1920s, which Mr. Wei called "the arrival of the climax" in the Chinese translation of German literature, and it was not without careful consideration.

According to Mr. Wei Maoping's statistics in his book, in the 1920s, there were 58 Chinese versions of German literature published in China, of which 53 were published in Shanghai. In terms of the number of publications, both the 1930s, when war literature flourished, and even the 40s, when the publishing industry suffered heavy losses due to the current situation, were larger than those in the 20s.

However, the significance of translation activities in this decade in the 1920s is different from that of later translations, because many authors who are of great significance in German native context or who have had or still have a great influence in China after being introduced into modern China context are translated into Chinese for the first time or their works are translated in large quantities first. This particularity adds chips to the value of many questions we have raised.

Among these authors, only we are familiar with Goethe, Brothers Grimm (then translated into gleim or Golmud), Heine, Nietzsche and Shi (sometimes translated into Strom, Strom, etc.). ), Lessing (translated as Lyson), Zweig, etc. Some other names disappeared from the translation circle in China in the Republic of China and even today after their first Chinese translation was short-lived.

What was the identity of the translator at that time? What kind of mentality is it to introduce specific writers? What are the criteria for selecting works? What impact did the introduction have on China society at that time? Is this influence commensurate with the author's influence in German context or worldwide at that time, and how does it compare with his influence in China today? What's the meaning of silent cold reception or strong admiration? What influence did German and Chinese newspaper book reviews have on the acceptance history of these authors in the context of China? The development of German language and literature as a discipline in China at that time (the emergence of reference books, the formation of German textbooks and subject terms, or the formation of this discipline? What influence does it have on the translation of German literature into Chinese?

At the same time, the 1920s was also a tense decade in China's modern history.

China people's unity to save the country reached a climax in this decade: the establishment of China, the first cooperation between China and the United States, the establishment of Whampoa Military Academy, the outbreak of the May 30th Movement, and the beginning and failure of the national revolution. Prior to this, the New Culture Movement, which started at 19 15, has achieved fruitful results after years of efforts by scholars.

So does the relationship between Germany and China have a guiding role in the translation history of this decade? What works are directly translated from German? What works have been translated into Japanese or English? What are the translations of German classical literature and contemporary literature?

These are all issues that we need to consider again and again when we start our research.

Three. Innovations and difficulties of the project

As far as innovation is concerned, the significance and research status of this topic have actually been involved in the above discussion, so I won't go into details here. Let's briefly summarize it in one sentence: the field of China translation history of German literature is rarely involved in academic circles so far, and it should be said that it is a fertile ground with great pioneering value.

But such a topic selection is a laborious task for us.

First of all, to make this subject valuable and conform to academic norms, it will involve many basic knowledge of history, such as the identification of historical materials, historical research methods, basic historical theories and so on. This is not good for the students of Fudan German Department. Although both of them chose history in the college entrance examination, they are almost completely unfamiliar with historical research in the strict sense. Fortunately, out of personal interest, we took many specialized courses in the history department during our two years in college, such as Wu's The World Before the 15th Century, Jin Shoufu's Guide to Primitive History (Old Testament), Zou Zhenhuan's Guide to Primitive History (Selected Works of China History), Han Sheng's Historical Process of East Asian Civilization, and many history teachers started classes together. Zhang Qing's The Formation of Modern Discipline in China can be said to be a direct incentive for us to establish the direction of this discipline. In fact, when I first decided on this topic, I wanted to do an interdisciplinary research. The discipline accomplishment related to this research may indeed be biased towards history or even deviate from one's own major. As far as research methods are concerned, it has little to do with the foundation of German language learning in recent two years. The language ability brought by this major plays an almost purely instrumental role. However, if the result of this study is as expected, it should be said that it is quite meaningful from the perspective of the history of German literature in China or Sino-German relations. When studying such a subject, language has become a big advantage for both of us compared with history students.

In addition, finding the original file is also a big problem. In the textual research of "History of German Literature Translation into Chinese (Late Qing Dynasty and Republic of China)", Mr. Wei Maoping also had a headache for finding information, bluntly saying that "I didn't expect to visit all the major libraries in China at first because I was afraid of the hardships of the road and the difficulty of consulting". However, we believe that this can always be overcome by manpower. After all, we are energetic young people, and we will use our holiday time to visit the reference rooms of major universities and libraries in related cities as much as possible. And we have enough patience, we can always dig up some new documents and historical materials. In addition, in the appendix of textual research, Mr. Wei listed the Bibliography of Chinese Translation of German Literature and Criticism, Bibliography of Chinese Translation of German Literary Works and Bibliography of German Literary History and Criticism. The publication time, publishing house and translator are vivid, which provides great convenience for our historical data search and textual research. Therefore, despite the difficulties, we still believe that it is feasible to collect original documents on the basis of Mr. Wei's research.

Mr. Ye Juan's "World Spirit" in China Culture-China Picture in German Literature and Its Significance in the History of Thought "talks about:

From the perspective of seeking truth, history emphasizes that the significance of "historical textual research" lies in attaching importance to a gradual accumulation of knowledge, because it is untenable to call it justice. But real historians often don't pay attention to this point, but say: "learning articles and distinguishing wisely are not enough to maintain the world;" Therefore, those who hold the world have knowledge. "

In fact, any academic research should be like this. After reading a lot of predecessors' research and original materials, it is the greatest value of the whole research, but it is also the biggest difficulty if we can integrate and sort out from a novel point of view and put forward our own unique views. But whether we have this understanding or not is not something we dare to talk about.

Four. Expected results of the project:

Looking for some new historical materials, sorting out the historical materials of German-Chinese translation in 10 in detail, trying to solve a series of problems mentioned above, and completing the concluding thesis on this basis.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) Reference:

Ye Juan, German Scholars in Modern Academic Vision, Tongji University Press.

Tongji? German culture series

Ye Juan, Another Western Learning, Peking University Publishing House.

Peking University German Studies Series

A Historical Narration of China's Influence on German Literature Wei Maoping, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Textual research on the history of Chinese translation of German literature (late Qing Dynasty and Republic of China) Wei Maoping, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

The Call of Foreign Countries —— German Writers and China Culture Wei Maoping, Ma Jiaxin and Xia Zheng from Ningxia People's Publishing House

Collection of Studies on Sino-German Literary Relations: Wei Maoping, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, (Germany) K.

Selected Poems in Stone Poetry was translated by Yang, Jiangsu People's Publishing House.

Goethe and China Sanlian Bookstore Yang

Chen Quan, Liaoning Education Press, Sino-German Literature Studies.

Catalogue of Modern Periodicals in China (3 volumes and 6 volumes) Shanghai People's Publishing House Shanghai Library

China Modern Literature Department? Index Collection of Historical Materials (1840 ——1919) Wei Shaochang, Shanghai Bookstore Press.

China Modern Literature Department? Shi Zhecun, Shanghai Bookstore, Translated Literature Collection

Catalogue of China Modern Literature Journals (Volume I and Volume II) Tianjin People's Publishing House, Tangyuan, etc.

China Translation Dictionary Hubei Education Press.

Total bibliography during the Republic of China? Foreign Literature Beijing Bibliographic Literature Publishing House Beijing Library