{"title":"Translating “Maoist China”: The Development of French Maoism through Literary Translation","authors":"Xin Huang","doi":"10.1080/17409292.2024.2272521","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The translation of Chinese literature brought Mao Zedong thought and the Chinese revolutionary spirit to France in the 1960s, giving rise to the development of French Maoism. The translation conducted by French left-wing intellectuals focused on Mao’s literary works and other left-wing revolutionary literature, which encouraged French avant-garde writers to project an image of idealized “Maoist China” onto the land of France, with an ambition to promote social and political reforms at home. Utopian fantasies about Chinese literature and politics drove the development of French Maoism, but the disintegration of spontaneous Maoist organizations and the trips to China allowed pro-Maoist intellectuals to recognize their idealized misinterpretation of China gradually.","PeriodicalId":10546,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary French and Francophone Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Contemporary French and Francophone Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17409292.2024.2272521","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE, ROMANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract The translation of Chinese literature brought Mao Zedong thought and the Chinese revolutionary spirit to France in the 1960s, giving rise to the development of French Maoism. The translation conducted by French left-wing intellectuals focused on Mao’s literary works and other left-wing revolutionary literature, which encouraged French avant-garde writers to project an image of idealized “Maoist China” onto the land of France, with an ambition to promote social and political reforms at home. Utopian fantasies about Chinese literature and politics drove the development of French Maoism, but the disintegration of spontaneous Maoist organizations and the trips to China allowed pro-Maoist intellectuals to recognize their idealized misinterpretation of China gradually.
期刊介绍:
An established journal of reference inviting all critical approaches on the latest debates and issues in the field, Contemporary French & Francophone Studies (formerly known as SITES) provides a forum not only for academics, but for novelists, poets, artists, journalists, and filmmakers as well. In addition to its focus on French and Francophone studies, one of the journal"s primary objectives is to reflect the interdisciplinary direction taken by the field and by the humanities and the arts in general. CF&FS is published five times per year, with four issues devoted to particular themes, and a fifth issue, “The Open Issue” welcoming non-thematic contributions.