This book combines two collections of essays written by the late professor Zuoliang Wang, works that explore the affinity between literatures and peoples, with special attention given to that between Chinese literature and western literature in the 20th century, and which underscore the role of translation therein. Both collections have been previously published in book form: Degrees of AffinityStudies in Comparative Literature (1985) and A Sense of BeginningStudies in Literature and Translation (1991).

As a prominent literary critic, literary historian, translator and 20th-century Chinese poet, Wang has played a unique part in English education in China. His research interests range widely, from English literature through comparative literature to translation and cultural studies, fields in which he has made outstanding accomplishments. Wang pioneered the concept of affinity in talking about interactions between literatures and peoples, which has since won great acclaim from both critics and common readers at home and abroad. As he points out, momentous changes often occur when a foreign literature satisfies a sore need of an indigenous literature, thus developing a strong affinity... And translation can fulfill a crucial role in bringing about affinity between literatures and peoples. According to Professor Wang, Nothing is more crucial in cultural contacts, not to say cultural interactions, than translation, particularly in a country that for long periods closed its doors to the outside world, like China.

Collects all the important essays and articles written originally in English by one of China's most outstanding 20th-century scholars, dealing with interactions between literatures and between cultures The late Professor Wang Zuoliang was pioneering in bringing forth the concept of affinity between literatures, which constitutes a great contribution to comparative literature. Scintillating ideas and observances are everywhere to be found in this book Provides some interesting ideas about the translation standard and practice in the 20th-century China Offers a panoramic picture of how the Chinese mandarin-scholars and intellectuals in the 20th century, faced with domestic strife and foreign aggression, tried to keep the door wide open to the latest trends in western literature, and how they tried, each in their different ways, to solve problems that harassed China at that time

Inhalt
Literary History: Chinese Beginnings.- The Shakespearean Moment in China.- English Poetry and the Chinese Reader.- On Affinity between Literatures.- Across Literatures: the Translation Boom.- Two early translators.- Lu Xun.- Lu Xun and Western Literature.- Chinese Modernists and Their Metamorphoses.- Modernist Poetry in China.- A Chinese Poet.- The Poet as Translator.- Some Observations on Verse Translation .- On Translating Joyce, Burns and Others.- Sean O'Casey in China.- Translation Standard in China: A Survey.- Reflections on a Dictionary.