Lu Xun’s translation of “Dead Souls” (first volume, translated from German to Chinese): Study of an unpublished manuscript

Abstract

The collection of the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing contains an unpublished manuscript by Lu Xun in the form of his translation of Gogol’s first volume of “Dead Souls”. Lu Xun worked with a German translation of “Dead Souls”. This article analyses the character of the changes that Gogol’s work underwent in Lu Xun’s translation. The study of this manuscript reveals the fact that Lu Xun’s translational practices do not match his translation theory. As a result his translation of “Dead Souls” reveals Lu Xun’s hesitation between choosing “exoticism” and “sinification”. Although there are some shortcomings in this translation, it reflects an important conceptual idea of Lu Xun: any translation implies taking into consideration both cultures.

Keywords:

Lu Xun, Dead souls, translation, manuscript