In Other Words: Translation and Rewriting in the Work Lienü zhuan yanyi

In this paper I will address the issue of intralingual translation and its role in the definition of yanyi in the context of pre-modern Chinese Literature. The term yanyi figures in the title of many late imperial narratives, mainly of historical character. The recurrence of this term in the title of novels based on dynastic histories has resulted in the prevalent interpretation of yanyi as historical novel. This definition, however, matches only partially the complex web of literary, cultural and editorial factors which boosted the success of the genre in late imperial culture. In my paper I will primarily focus on the issue of the linguistic dimension implicit in the definition of yanyi. In particular I will consider what kind of linguistic and textual transformations were at stake in the transposition into vernacular (or pseudo-vernacular language) of textual materials originally written in literary language. I will present data emerging from my ongoing research on the seventeenth century work Lienü zhuan yanyi, a collection of narratives published in Suzhou shortly after the year 1668 and which, according to the intentions of its compiler, was meant to be a vernacularization of the Han dynasty collection Lienü zhuan (Biographies of Women) by Liu Xiang (c. 79-8 B.C.), one of the most influential texts on women’s education in Chinese culture. In my analysis I will show how the Lienü zhuan yanyi presents a non-homogeneous attitude toward the rewriting of Han biographies, spanning from almost verbatim reproduction to more complete paraphrases and rewritings. I will therefore propose a categorization of the different linguistic and textual transformations shaping the yanyi version of the text and, on a second level of analysis, I will try to consider what kind of rhetorical, cultural and ideological factors were at stake in the intralingual transposition of texts.