One into Many

One into Many: Translation and the Dissemination of Classical Chinese Literature is the first anthology of its kind in English that deals in depth with the translation of Chinese texts, literary and philosophical, into a host of Western and Asian languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Hebrew, Slovak and Korean. After an introduction by the editor, in which multiple translations are compared to the many lives lived by the original in its new incarnations, thirteen articles are presented in three different sections. The first, Beginnings, comprises three articles that give accounts of how the earliest European translations of Chinese texts were undertaken. In Texts, four articles examine, separately, translated classical Chinese texts in the three genres of poetry, the short story and the novel. Constituting the third section are six articles addressing the different traditions into which Chinese literature has been translated over the centuries. Rounding off the whole anthology is a discussion of the culturalist perspective in which translations of the Chinese classics have been viewed in the past decade or so. A glossary and an index at the back provide easy reference to the reader interested in the source materials and allow him to undertake research in a rich area that is still not adequately explored.