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Lost and Found in Translation: Intercultural Encounter in the Chinese Arabian Nights
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Dr Wen-Ching Ouyang, Senior Lecturer at SOAS and Dr Sarah Bowen Savant, Assistant Professor at AKU-ISMC (left to right). |
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On 9th May Dr Wen-Ching Ouyang, Senior Lecturer in the Department of the Languages and Cultures of Near and Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) presented a lunch-hour seminar, ‘Lost and Found in Translation: Intercultural Encounter in the Chinese Arabian Nights’.
Ouyang’s research explores the impact of translation on a given work, in this case the Arabic classic, 1001 Nights. Ouyang explained that in the 1990s a two-volume translation of Arabian nights appeared in Taipei. Interestingly, the editor noted that this version is an adaptation of a six volume version published in 1982, in Beijing. Due to this significant abridgment, the story and even the structure of the two volume version had changed significantly.
“Assessment of the 1001 Nights transcends not only political boundaries but more importantly the contemporary political binary of colonised and coloniser in coming to grips with cultural encounters and exchanges. This history opens up new vistas in the way that we comprehend cross-cultural encounters and exchanges,” Ouyang noted.
The translation of the 1001 Nights began with European languages, and was followed by the first Chinese translation in 1900. Ouyang questions how translation can be theorised as a site of cross-cultural encounter and exchange.
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Aptin Khanbaghi, Project Team Leader of the MCA and Professor Modjtaba Sadria (left to right) listen to Dr Ouyang's talk . |
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“How can translation refine our understanding of intercultural encounter which has thus far been narrowly located either in the paradigm of Western influence on the East, or, in the marginalised or underwhelming attempts at drawing attention to the impact in Western societies of the culture of the East?”
Ouyang explains that the reception of the 1001 Nights in China allows for an interesting perspective on the production of knowledge and cross-cultural exchange. In this case, Ouyang refers to a type of ‘orientalism by proxy’, by which European agendas and movements inform Chinese reception and assessment of the 1001 Nights.
Ouyang explored the similarities and differences between the Arabic text of the 1001 Nights, two English translations and two Chinese translations. This analysis also enables the possibility of further understanding of intercultural encounter and reception.
“I looked for something that would be different that would indicate cultural difference, and I looked for something else which would indicate sameness. And in terms of cultural difference it is very easy – religion, or religious worldview. You have an Islamic world view… monotheism, that has an impact on the minute detail of practices and stories and so forth. Monotheism is not a concept that the Chinese have; they have their own pantheon which has its own structure of hierarchies and so forth.”
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Through her analysis of the 1001 Nights, Dr Ouyang hopes to enable the possibility of further understanding of intercultural encounter and reception. |
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Ouyang analysed a section of a story which is deeply rooted in Islamic folklore, history and religious practice, and explored the way in which it was translated into Chinese. Ouyang noted a number of differences between the original and the Chinese translation – for example the way in which concepts such as genies and lamps, alien to the Chinese worldview, were translated. The Chinese translators transferred the notion of Islamic religion and culture into a Chinese framework which could be easily understood by readers. Ouyang noted that “sameness is what makes difference palatable, edible and digestible.”
Ouyang, referring to Theo Herman’s notion of ‘thick translation’, introduced the idea of translation as a cross-cultural encounter and the study of translation as cross-cultural studies. Translation, in turn, reflects the subject position of the translator, the process through which one culture is habilitated into another. The process of translation can be argued to be a conceptual transfer of knowledge across cultures.
“The particular assumptions informing domestic representations allow us to recognise similarity and difference, as well as a certain dyslexia that enlarges specific similarities while creating blind spots elsewhere. Translation must be thought of us ‘thick’, appreciation for what is different and what is similar – but in what way, at what angles and in what respect.”
Ouyang suggests a reversal of what Herman proposes, by first looking at translation of certain texts each in their particular cultural, historical, linguistic or subject specific context. Further to this, Ouyang believes that it would be fruitful to look at single moments of intercultural encounter in translation. Through this, translation can be seen as a space for intercultural encounter which is able to promote both difference and similarity.
In the Chinese translation, Ouyang states, power plays little part in shaping the translated text. Rather, the struggle is how to accommodate alien concepts and ideologies into a comprehensible language. In conclusion, Ouyang questioned how whether it is possible to refine and adapt orientalism as a theory interrogating the ways in which one culture comes to terms with another if we were to investigate each translation of the 1001 Nights as a ‘thick translation’.
Audio*
- To listen to a recording (wma) of the seminar, please click here.
External Links**
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