Translation as Cultural Memory: Lu Xun's Views on Translation

Translation has long been deemed primarily a verbal shift from one language to another, an art of verbal performance, but this cannot explain why and how translation may play a role in the formation of a nation’s modernity. In this talk, Professor Luo Xuanmin will discuss Lu Xun’s views on translation in the context of China and the West, treating translation not merely as a verbal medium, but as a series of conscious activities aimed at reforming China and constructing Chinese modernity.

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Luo Xuanmin is Professor of English and Translation Studies in the Department of Foreign Languages at Qinghua University and Director of the Center for Translation and Interdisciplinary Studies at Qinghua. This year he is a Fulbright Research Scholar at the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures at UCLA.