A Study Of Henry James' Reception In China (1919-1949)

Henry James(1843-1916)had a profound influence on modern British and American novels in the 20 th century,and he also occupies a prominent position in the history of Western literary criticism.In 1919,Henry James appeared in Novel Monthly for the first time,and his views on novels and novel works were gradually accepted by readers.In the period of modern Chinese literature,as a novel critic,James' emphasis on the art of fiction affects domestic writers' attitudes towards the genre of novels and their practice of novel creation;as a novelist,his four novels—Four Meetings(1877),Daisy Miller(1878),The Turn of the Screw(1898)and The Aspern Paper(1888),have been translated and introduced,reflecting Chinese choice of the value of the novel and the value positioning of James in the period.During this period,the domestic acceptance of James' s novel conception always revolved around the concept of "fiction is art".In the first 20 years,people paid more attention to James' characterization art,and in the next 10 years,they turned to his art of psychoanalysis.From the early 1920 s to the end of the 1930 s,James' s "view of characters" was introduced by Zhang Yihan,and his "character-centre" narrative method and "character-first" creative method influenced the creation of writers such as Mao Dun to some extent.In the 1940 s,James' views on psychoanalysis in novels became a new focus.Scholars such as Bian Zhilin and Xiao Qian have made great contributions to the introduction of James' psychological novels.James' emphasis on the psychological depiction of characters has influenced the creation of Wang Zengqi and other novelists.However,James' exploration of characterization and psychoanalysis all originated from his persistent pursuit of the art.He believes that fiction is an art.This view has been constantly mentioned in the articles of writers such as Huang Zhongsu,Lao She,Shao Xunmei from the 1920 s to the 1940 s,which has changed people's traditional cognition of novels.The first novel by James to be translated and introduced to China was Four Meetings.The translation of this novel reflects people's preference for James' works in the 1920 s and 1930s—realistic novels with "international themes" and prominent characterizations.The translation of Daisy Miller in the 1930 s also proved this point,which is consistent with the acceptance of James' novel creation view discussed in the previous chapter.Four Meetings was translated into China by Chen Xiying for the first time.It is the result of the translator's pursuit of the "economic" and artistic pursuit of the short story.Subsequently,Jian Xian'ai and Fu Donghua completed their new translations.Both translations were based on the need to compile an anthology of American short stories,with obvious “instrumental” characteristics,but this also shows that James' status in American literature was generally recognized at the time.The "Year of Translation" in the 1930 s ushered in two translations of James' s masterpiece of early novels Daisy Miller.Lin Yijin and Fan Cunzhong accepted submissions from publisher and newspapers and translated the novel in 1934 and1935.But in the 1920 s and 1940 s,this novel appeared to be ignored.In the 1920 s,when Yu Hualong,Zhao Jingshen,and Zheng Zhenduo introduced the novel,they all literally translated the name of the novel,which shows that they did not understand the novel;and in the 1940 s,Xiao Qian was also called Daisy Miller is an extremely unimportant novel by James.This reflects the change in domestic attitudes towards James: In the 1920 s,James and American literature as a whole did not attract domestic attention.In the 1930 s,James' s early realistic international novels catered to readers' tastes.In the 1940 s,people thought that only psychological novels could represent James' literary achievements,thus reducing the focus on his earlier works.The translation and introduction of The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Paper in the 1940 s further proved that domestic attention to James has gradually turned to his psychoanalytic novels.However,as James' mid-stage works,these two novellas have both the realism characteristics of his earlier novels and the budding psychoanalysis of the later novels,which makes the translator's choice of these two novellas more like a compromise.Although Xiao Qian and others actively introduced James' psychological novels,they believed that they were not suitable for Chinese cultural soil.This is in line with Bian Zhilin's practice of combining novels with society at the time in the prefaces of The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern paper.The same goes for different routes.The translator wanted to introduce James' s highest-achieving psychological novels,but pure psychological novels could not adapt to the domestic social environment at that time.The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern paper well integrated the factors of reality and psychoanalysis,so they got translation and introduction.