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Proust and China: Translation, Intertext, Transcultural Dialogue Shuangyi Li PhD in French The University of Edinburgh 2015 2 Declaration I declare that this thesis was composed by myself, that the work contained herein is my own except where explicitly stated otherwise in the text, and that this work has not been submitted for any other degree or processional qualification except as specified. Signiture: Date: 31.08.2015 Shuangyi Li 3 Abstract The thesis primarily engages with Proust and China from the following three aspects: the Chinese translations and retranslations of Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu, contemporary mainland Chinese writers’ intertextual engagement with Proust, and the transcultural dialogue between Proust and the Franco-Chinese author, François Cheng. Part I Chapter I compares and contrasts different – integral and selective – Chinese translations of La Recherche, and explores their different emphases as well as negligence of Proustian themes, e.g. time and memory over anti-Semitism and homosexuality, due to the former’s strong resonance with Chinese philosophical and aesthetic traditions. The chapter is further substantiated by a close examination of various strategies employed to translate passages on sadomasochism and homosexuality in Proust’s work, which reflect changing discourses on and attitudes to the subjects in China. Chapter II focuses on the creative reception of Proust’s work in China. It explores how three mainland Chinese writers’ intertextual engagement with Proust is influenced by the first integral translation of La Recherche, and how they cite Proust partly to enhance the cultural prestige of their own works, while creating a horizon of expectations and a favourable climate of reception of Proust’s work in China. With a shift of focus to the Chinese diaspora in France, Part II explores Cheng’s French-language novel Le Dit de Tianyi as the author’s intellectual and artistic dialogue with Proust’s work. In addition to the intertextual relations, this part particularly examines Cheng’s conceptual and structural engagement with Proust’s novelistic conceptions of Bildungsroman and Künstlerroman, his approach to the fine arts, and finally his use of mythological motifs. Through the case of Proust, the thesis tries to gain a better understanding of the interaction between literatures and cultures, and particularly, the phenomena of cultural appropriation and dialogue in literature. More specifically, it demonstrates how the cultural heritages of China and the West can be re-negotiated, re-thought, and put into dialogue through the fictional and creative medium of literature. 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... 6 List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 8 Part I ....................................................................................................................................... 25 The Reception of Proust in China ........................................................................................... 25 Chapter I ............................................................................................................................. 26 Proust and the Chinese Translations ................................................................................. 26 I.1. Proust in China: An Ideological Trajectory ............................................................... 26 I.2. Proust in Chinese Translations: An Overview .......................................................... 31 I.3. First Translation ....................................................................................................... 33 I.4. Xu’s Translation ........................................................................................................ 36 I.5. Zhou’s Translation .................................................................................................... 41 I.6. Zhou’s Other Translations of La Recherche ............................................................. 45 I.7. Shen Zhiming’s Essential Selection ........................................................................... 55 I.8. Translating Montjouvain: A Case Study ................................................................... 59 I.9. Sexuality in Translation: Montjouvain and Beyond ................................................. 67 I.9.1. Translating Sadomasochism .............................................................................. 72 I.9.2. Translating Homosexuality ................................................................................ 77 Chapter II ............................................................................................................................ 86 Proust and Mainland Chinese Writers: La Recherche and Its Postmodern Hypertexts ..... 86 II.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 86 II.2. Wang Xiaobo’s ‘Fleeting Years as Water’ (‘Si shui liu nian’, 似水流年) (1992) ...... 89 II.3. Yu Hua’s Cris dans la bruine (Zai xiyu zhong huhan, 在细雨中呼喊) (1991) ......... 95 II.3.1. Prefaces ............................................................................................................ 95 II.3.2. Prologue to Cris .............................................................................................. 106 II.4. Wei Hui’s Short Stories ......................................................................................... 111 II.5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 123 5 Part II .................................................................................................................................... 129 Proust in the Chinese Diaspora: François Cheng’s Le Dit de Tianyi ..................................... 129 I.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 130 I.2. ‘A la recherche du temps à venir’ .......................................................................... 133 I.3. Proust in Paratexts ................................................................................................. 142 II. Traits chinois / démarche proustienne .................................................................... 154 II.1. Artistic Initiation ................................................................................................ 155 II.2. Principles of Artistic Creation ............................................................................ 167 II.3. Primacy of Art ................................................................................................... 176 II.3.1. Painting ...................................................................................................... 178 II.3.2. Literature.................................................................................................... 185 II.3.3. Theatre ....................................................................................................... 189 II.3.4. Music .......................................................................................................... 193 II.4. Writing and Rewriting the Myth ....................................................................... 199 II.4.1. Prologue ..................................................................................................... 201 II.4.2. Myth of Orpheus ........................................................................................ 208 III. Transcendence through the Void ............................................................................ 220 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 224 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 233 6 Acknowledgments First and foremost, I’d like to thank Prof. Marion Schmid for inspiring my PhD. However, my much deeper sense of gratitude must be expressed for her being the constant reader of my emotions, thoughts and intellectual works since my undergraduate years. Her meticulous, insightful and invigorating comments and suggestions, complete dedication, infinite patience and indefatiguable intellectual