The Making of Barbarians

Chinese Literature and Multilingual Asia

Haun Saussy

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English

Princeton University Press
26 March 2025

Translation & interpretation; Literature: history & criticism; Asian history

Series: Translation/Transnation

A groundbreaking account of translation and identity in the Chinese literary tradition before 1850-with important ramifications for today

Debates on the canon, multiculturalism, and world literature often take Eurocentrism as the target of their critique. But literature is a universe with many centers, and one of them is China. The Making of Barbarians offers an account of world literature in which China, as center, produces its own margins. Here Sinologist and comparatist Haun Saussy investigates the meanings of literary translation, adaptation, and appropriation on the boundaries of China long before it came into sustained contact with the West.

When scholars talk about comparative literature in Asia, they tend to focus on translation between European languages and Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, as practiced since about 1900. In contrast, Saussy focuses on the period before 1850, when the translation of foreign works into Chinese was rare because Chinese literary tradition overshadowed those around it.

The Making of Barbarians looks closely at literary works that were translated into Chinese from foreign languages or resulted from contact with alien peoples. The book explores why translation was such an undervalued practice in premodern China, and how this vast and prestigious culture dealt with those outside it before a new group of foreigners-Europeans-appeared on the horizon.

By: Haun Saussy
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780691231983
ISBN 10: 0691231982
Series: Translation/Transnation
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 26 March 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Haun Saussy is University Professor at the University of Chicago and teaches in the Committee on Social Thought, the department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, the department of Comparative Literature, and the College. His books include Translation as Citation: Zhuangzi Inside Out, The Ethnography of Rhythm: Orality and Its Technologies, and The Problem of a Chinese Aesthetic.

Reviews for The Making of Barbarians: Chinese Literature and Multilingual Asia

""Comparative study at its finest.""---Daniel Boucher, Journal of Asian Studies ""An enjoyable read. . . . [and] a great contribution to the field of comparative literature, cultural studies, sociology, history, and translation studies.""---Tsz Chung Yow, African and Asian Studies