User:Mian5/Lin Shu

1.Lead
Lin Shu, who is one of the most important translators in Chinese history, his works are variety of different types and different languages, including more than 180 foreign literary works and 160 novels. Besides, these novels were belong to 98 writers from 11 countries. (Chen, Weihong, and Xiaojuan Cheng. “An Analysis of Lin Shu’s Translation Activity from the Cultural Perspective.”) On the other hand, Lin Shu has also known widely as a guwenjia (master of ancient-style prose). For example, his representative achievements, La Traviata, Gain biography are worked on ancient Chinese translation. Most of his works are patriotic and passionate, criticizing the current social situation in the period. Not only he introduced a lot of foreign artistic skills to China, but also he expressed his patriotic enthusiasm to public and played an uplifting role in the society at that time.

2.1 Personal experience before translations.
Lin Shu was born in Fujian Province of Min country. Before he starting translate the western novels, he has already granted be the "Juren", which means he has won the good grade in the imperial exam in Han dynasty. When he was young, he was born in a poor family but he enjoyed reading books and study hard on analyzing them. This early stage laid an essential foundation for him to become a guwenjia and engage he working on great translations in the future.

Lin's designation as a guwenjia has been crucial in casting him as an anchor of traditionalist cultural politics, especially in the middle- and late-periods of his career (roughly 1911 to 1924).

2.2 Lin's major contributions & writing styles.
Lin shu had a thoughtful view when he began to face the society situation in the world since he was a teenager. He believed China cannot become richer and stronger than before without learning new ideas and knowledge from Western nations. This passionate emotion forced him to put efforts on Western novels translation in his forties.

In 1987, Lin shu's first translation was the French masterpiece La Dame aux Camelias with his close friend, Wang Shouchang. Because of the limitation of language, Lin Shu have to ask his friend to interpret the novel for him, then he wrote them in Classical Chinese.This hard work shocked the literature field in the period, moreover, this novel was quickly become popular in China. This big achievement also made them a decision, which is began to continue working on Western books' translations. Lin Shu translated them into classical Chinese language with a high speed, his friends and his students also interpret different types of books for him, with the help, Lin Shu have finished his translations varying from 40 kinds of classical books in the world. Most of the authors are belonging to English and American.

Lin shu had his own unique methods to translate. His writing style usually were clear and lucid. Lin shu hoped his translation could enlighten the Chinese and wake up his compatriots to focus on Chinese imperfections, so that it could encourage them to strive for the motherland's prosperity and powerfulness.(Chen, Weihong, and Xiaojuan Cheng. “An Analysis of Lin Shu’s Translation Activity from the Cultural Perspective.”) Just as César Guarde-Paz (2015) indicates, ". Zheng offers what he calls a “fair judgment” (gongzheng pingpan 公正評判) of Lin Shu’s legacy, praising his role as a pioneer of literary theory: Lin Shu did not only introduce Western literature in China, but he also broke with the old literary rules of the novel in chapter form (zhanghui xiaoshuo 章回小說)."(175, A Translator in the Shadows of Early Republican China Lin Shu's Position in Modern Chinese Literature an Overview) The concrete examples and full analysis revealed that Lin Shu is quite creative in the translation process. His translation can be considered as a creative rebellion against the original.

2.3 Lin's influence for the generations ( works; scholarships )
However, his creative translation approaches of omission, addition and alteration also make him target of sharp criticism.

3.References
Guarde-Paz, César. “A Translator in the Shadows of Early Republican China: Lin Shu’s Position in Modern Chinese Literature: An Overview.” Monumenta Serica, vol. 63, Jan. 2015, pp. 172–192. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bas&AN=BAS875495&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Chen, Weihong, and Xiaojuan Cheng. “An Analysis of Lin Shu’s Translation Activity from the Cultural Perspective.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 4, no. 6, June 2014, p. 1201. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.373678857&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Hill, Michael Gibbs. “National Classicism: Lin Shu as Textbook Writer and Anthologist, 1908-1924.” Twentieth-Century China, vol. 33, no. 1, Nov. 2007, pp. 27–52. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bas&AN=BAS282683&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Weihong Chen, and Xiaojuan Cheng. “A Preliminary Probe into Lin Shu’s Creative Translation.” Journal of Language Teaching & Research, vol. 6, no. 2, Mar. 2015, pp. 416–422. EBSCOhost, doi:10.17507/jltr.0602.23.

Huang, Alexander C. Y. “Lin Shu, Invisible Translation, and Politics.” Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, vol. 14, no. 1, 2006, pp. 55–65. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/09076760608669017.

Rachel Lung. The Oral Translator’s “Visibility”: The Chinese Translation of David Copperfield by Lin Shu and Wei Yi. https://id-erudit-org.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/iderudit/013277ar