Abstract:

Translation of Chinese classics serves as an effective means of overseas dissemination of the rich Chinese cultural heritage. Targeting at academic readership, and with focus on reproducing the literary characteristics and historical narratives of the original work, William H. Nienhauser Jr.’s translation of the Shiji, which is characterized by a style approaching literal translation and detailed annotations, forms a typical example of Chinese historical classics translation. From the perspective of transknowletology, this article studies Nienhauser’s translation of the Shiji, analyzing and summarizing its practices of knowledge transfer, reconstruction, and dissemination. The study finds that Nienhauser’s knowledge practices prioritize academic-oriented knowledge processing through systematic integration and instrumental arrangement, and maintain the independence of the original knowledge, thus producing a “dictionary-style translation” of the Shiji. The knowledge practices in Nienhauser’s Translation of the Shiji may provide some implications for the practice of Chinese historical classics translation as well as the research of classics translation.

Key words: Translation of Chinese Classics, Historical Classics, Nienhauser’s Translation of the Shiji, Transknowletology, Dictionary-Style Translation