The Translation And The Reception Of Simone De Beauvoir In China

Simone de Beauvoir is one of the most important intellectuals in the French literary and cultural history of the 20th century. She is not only an important writer of existentialism literature, but also praised for the pioneer of western contemporary feminism. "Woman", "writer", "godmother of feminism", all these titles reflect different faces of Beauvoir’s image. The multi-faceted image of Beauvoir was translated, introduced and spread in France and in the world. In China, it is the same case. Beauvoir began to be translated and introduced in the early 80s of the 20th century. Since then, both professional reviewers and the ordinary readers have gradually turned their gaze to this woman, about her love, her works and her contributions to the feminist movement. However, different aspects of the multi-faceted Beauvoir have gone through different situations.My dissertation is generally divided into three parts, including nine chapters, an introduction and a conclusion.In the introduction, I try to look back briefly on the translation of different kinds of works of Simone de Beauvoir. From the studies on the French intellectual in china, I indicate the misunderstandings of the interpretation of Beauvoir’s image which is received by Chinese readers.The first part is to question the image of Simone de Beauvoir as "Sartre’s wife" or "great Sartreuse" which is received by readers during the presentation of the French woman in China. Because of the attention paid particularly to her romantic relationship with Sartre, especially in the early years of presentation, Beauvoir is regarded mostly as Sartre’s wife or companion to Sartre’s life. Given the great feats in the philosophical history of the twentieth century, Beauvoir is regarded as docile disciple of Sartre or even "great Sartreuse" in terms of philosophy. These shots are long entrenched among Chinese readers and Beauvoir’s intellectual individuality is hidden in the shadow of Sartre. I describe respectively in the first and the second chapter the circulation of cliches as "Sartre’s wife" and "the great Sartreuse", and simultaneously analyze the reasons why these pictures can exist so long. In the third chapter I’m going to discover an intellectually individualized Beauvoir by noting her own ideas about existential philosophy.It goes without saying that because of her close relationship with Sartre both in everyday life and in intellectual life, critics have difficulty in separating categorically the two intellectuals in order to discover the independent value of Simone de Beauvoir. That is one of the reasons why I emphasize the importance of The Second Sex, for studies of women is a field which is belong to Beauvoir but where Sartre has not proved his intellectual enthusiasm. I devote the second part to the careful description and analysis of the route of the translation of this encyclopedic work of women in China. It is interesting to note that the course of the introduction and translation of The Second Sex is not simply linear but in a triangular shape. Most of the Chinese versions are made from the English translation of Parshley.A retrospective view of the trip of Beauvoir’s work to the United States is not irrelevant, because on one hand, the travel of The Second Sex in China is realized on the basis of the United States, namely the English version full of omissions and mistakes serves as a reference to the Chinese translation, and on the other hand, it is the overwhelming influence of The Second Sex in the American world that Simone de Beauvoir is admired as a "spokesperson of feminism". From the partial versions to the full translation, the translation of Beauvoir’s work has covered a long journey. The reception begins always with the translation. Therefore, before the advent of the version of Zheng Kelu, The Second Sex read by Chinese readers is a translated work that has experienced the changes for several times. The image of Beauvoir as a radical feminist is introduced in the same way in China via the United States.In the third part, I put myself in the search for a Beauvoir as a literary writer next to a picture labeled as "spokesman for feminism". This label is given to the French intellectual as the translation of The Second Sex becomes more and more complete and the studies on this work get deeper and deeper. But one image labeled mainly borrowed from the Western world faces the embarrassment when it is introduced into the Chinese context. By pointing out the embarrassment where the picture labeled of Beauvoir is located, we do not intend to deny the importance of her work. I propose on the contrary to be aware of the influence of the ideas formulated in The Second Sex which has exerted great influence on the Chinese contemporary women’s literature and literary criticism from a feminist perspective.In addition to the outstanding contribution made to the women’s movement and feminist studies by Simone de Beauvoir, she is also a talented writer worthy of its name. Her novels and autobiographies are all texts in which she asserted her talent in the literary field. Owing to the limited translation of Beauvoir’s literary works, the gaze of the Chinese criticism focuses on four main novels. It should be noted that criticism on her autobiographies is almost absent. Because of less or no attention paid to her autobiographies, reading and interpretation of her works are in most cases under the limited prospects. The neglect of Beauvoir’s memories is explained not only by translations but also by the Chinese literary tradition. I’m trying not only to describe the reality of the reception of Beauvoir as a literary writer in China but also to observe the absence of the gaze on her autobiographies which have considerable historical and literary values.Finally, I draw the conclusion to confirm the trend towards a better interpretation of the works and a more reasonable reception of Beauvoir’s image in China. Moreover, I emphasize again the importance of reading autobiographies as well as her work as a whole in the understanding of the French intellectual.Throughout this study, I seek to collect the documents as comprehensive and detailed as possible about the translation and reception of Simone de Beauvoir. At the same time, I aim to explore the factors that affect the reception of Beauvoir’s image from the description of translation and criticism of her works. This is the first time I tackle the subject of the interpretation of Simone de Beauvoir as a whole in terms of translation and reception. This study is also a great essay in the discovery of an intellectually individualized Beauvoir for Chinese readers. However, lack of theoretical depth and a more extensive reading of literature to the subject concerned, this study still leaves much to be desired.