The First English Translation of the Medieval Chinese Literary Treatise Wen Xin Diao Long

Abstract

Liu Xie’s (465/466–520/522) treatise Wen xin diao long of 50 chapters presents the traditional literary theory, literary criticism and history of Ancient and Early Medieval literature of China in the most systematic and complete form. Its first complete Western translation into English by Vincent Yu-chung Shih (施友忠, Shi Yuzhong, 1902–2001) was published as late as in 1959. This presentation examines the 1959–1961 book reviews by the foreign literary experts on the Shih’s translation. They contain diverse assessments, suggestions and criticism of the first foreign-language edition of Wen xin diao long, which is an important resource for developing the parameters of a complete scientific edition of the forthcoming Russian translation of the treatise. The reviewers did not object to the choice of Liu Xie’s treatise as a source text. The courage of the translator who took up such a difficult task was lauded. The comments concerned the structure of the book (Introduction, translation text, Notes, Glossary, Index), the execution of the translation, the content of the Introduction and the scientific apparatus of the book. Vincent Shi’s translation became a significant event in the study of Wen xin diao long in the international sinology. The reviews pointed out objective difficulties, many of which remain relevant to this day and are associated with a lack of translations and knowledge of ancient and early medieval Chinese literature. The end of the 20th — beginning of the 21st witnessed appearance of the seven new translations of the treatise into European languages, which had to refer to Vincent Shih’s translation, to challenge him or agree with him both in the matters of translation proper and in the matters of the publication setup.

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