新书：沈艾娣《翻译的危险：清朝与大英帝国两位翻译家的非凡人生》

The Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators between Qing China and the British Empire

作者: 沈艾娣（Henrietta Harrison）

出版社: Princeton University Press
出版年: 2021-11
页数: 304
定价: $29.95 / £25.00
ISBN: 9780691225456

本书简介

The 1793 British embassy to China, which led to Lord George Macartney’s fraught encounter with the Qianlong emperor, has often been viewed as a clash of cultures fueled by the East’s disinterest in the West. In The Perils of Interpreting, Henrietta Harrison presents a more nuanced picture, ingeniously shifting the historical lens to focus on Macartney’s two interpreters at that meeting—Li Zibiao and George Thomas Staunton. Who were these two men? How did they intervene in the exchanges that they mediated? And what did these exchanges mean for them? From Galway to Chengde, and from political intrigues to personal encounters, Harrison reassesses a pivotal moment in British-China relations. She shows that there were Chinese who were familiar with the West, but growing tensions endangered those who embraced both cultures and would eventually culminate in the Opium Wars.

Harrison demonstrates that the Qing court’s ignorance about the British did not simply happen, but was manufactured through the repression of cultural go-betweens like Li and Staunton. She traces Li’s influence as Macartney’s interpreter, the pressures Li faced in China as a result, and his later years in hiding. Staunton interpreted successfully for the British East India Company in Canton, but as Chinese anger grew against British imperial expansion in South Asia, he was compelled to flee to England. Harrison contends that in silencing expert voices, the Qing court missed an opportunity to gain insights that might have prevented a losing conflict with Britain.

Uncovering the lives of two overlooked figures, The Perils of Interpreting offers a valuable argument for cross-cultural understanding in a better-connected world.

作者简介

沈艾娣(Henrietta Katherine Harrison),英国牛津大学东亚系教授,曾任教于英国利兹大学中文系、美国哈佛大学历史系,主要研究方向是华北乡村、地方宗教与社会、清末以降的社会文化等。著有 The Making of the Republican Citizen: State Ceremonies and Political Symbols in China 1911-1929, The Man Awakened from Dreams: One Man’ Life in North China Village(《梦醒子》), The Missionary' s Curse and other tales from Chinese Catholic Village等。目前正在研究1793年马嘎尔尼使团的翻译人员:李自标与斯当东。

相关评价

“This is a story about two interpreters, but it is so much more than that. The Perils of Interpreting is a powerful and deeply original exploration of two major empires, China and Britain, and the ways they understood each other. Bringing together a sweeping perspective of the Chinese-British encounter with empathetic portraits of the individuals involved, this book is essential reading for historians of China and Europe alike.”—Rana Mitter, author of Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937–1945

“Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, The Perils of Interpreting looks at the mirrored, intertwining lives of interpreters George Thomas Staunton and Li Zibiao. This is one of the most eye-opening books I have ever read on the early era of Chinese-British relations.”—Stephen R. Platt, author of Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age

“Harrison’s multifaceted archival analysis adds a humanistic touch to the history of intercultural politics and shows that the more interpreters understand, the more suspicious they appear. The choices and influence of the Macartney embassy’s interpreters shaped not only their own fates, but also the historical narratives of Chinese-British relations, then and now.”—May Bo Ching, City University of Hong Kong

“This is a wonderful and important book. Providing a wholly new and poignant lens on one of the most famous episodes in the history of Sino-British relations, it focuses on the roles and lives of the translators who made communication between Qing China and Britain possible. Harrison offers extraordinarily rich and moving insights into the interactions between the Chinese and British governments, and the enormous challenges of promoting understanding and dialogue between geographically remote languages and cultures.”—Julia Lovell, author of Maoism: A Global History

“The Perils of Interpreting takes a brilliant historical look at cross-cultural experiences and friendship. Harrison narrates the meeting between a Chinese man who learned Latin in Europe and a young Englishman who learned Chinese while working in China. Their fascinating story of being between two cultures and the dangers in interpreting them is all the more topical now, and their experiences remind us of the vital importance of language and translation in the understanding of cultures today.”—Nicolas Standaert, author of The Interweaving of Rituals: Funerals in the Cultural Exchange between China and Europe