Translation as the Gaze

Conceptualizing the Sino-Western Encounter, 1839-1949
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-23963-5
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 212 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: China Perspectives

This book centers on how translation is key to understanding the encounter between China and the West from 1839 to 1949. It explores the ambivalence, anxiety, and narcissism that China manifested when facing the foreign other and conceptualizes this intercultural interaction as a gaze.

Drawing on the theories of Sartre, Lacan, and Foucault, the book presents "translation as gaze" as an analytical framework through which the interplay of knowledge, power, and identity can be examined anew. In the interlocking of gazes between the self and the other, translation emerges not as a neutral medium, but as a dynamic, multilayered structure that simultaneously reveals and conceals, mediates, and transforms. By foregrounding the textual doubleness and epistemological fluidity of translation, the book illustrates how modern China negotiated its position in a global order of seeing and being seen. This framework deepens our understanding of China’s modernity and dialogic formation through translation and offers a critical perspective for studying transcultural encounters beyond the Sino-Western context. It illuminates the broader history of exchanges between civilizations.

The book will appeal to scholars and students of translation studies, Asian studies, and comparative literature.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Professional Reference

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cao, Qilin

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Übersetzungswissenschaft, Translatologie, Dolmetschen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Historische & Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturen sonstiger Sprachräume Ost- & Südostasiatische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

One Translation as the Gaze  Two Translation as the Imperial Gaze: The Macau News (1839–1840)  Three Translation as the Tourist Gaze: Shifting Perspectives in Translating Alice  Four Translation as the Male Gaze: Double-Framed Females by Lin Shu  Five Translation as the Medical Gaze: Filtering “Sick Man of Asia”

Über Autor(innen)

Qilin Cao is an assistant professor at the School of Foreign Studies, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. His research interests include translation studies, comparative literature, and object studies. One of his recent projects is to reconsider modern China through the perspective of objects.