Publication details

Translating Early Chinese Texts and the Problem of Contextualization : The Example of Chapter 1 of the Laozi

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Authors

VÁVRA Dušan

Year of publication 2017
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Acta Universitatis Carolinae – Philologica
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Web https://karolinum.cz/casopis/auc-philologica/rocnik-2017/cislo-4/clanek-5544
Field Philosophy and religion
Keywords Laozi; Daoism; philosophy; translation; contextualization
Description This article explores the issue of contextualization in translating early Chinese texts. It takes the example of Chapter 1 of the Laozi, which is analysed sentence by sentence with the focus on possible contexts in which the sentences can be read. Three types of contexts are distinguished in the article – immediate textual context, edited context, and discursive context. While the former two types of context (paragraph, chapter, book) are evident and naturally taken into account in any translation, it is stressed in this article that the discursive context is often overlooked or at least not regarded properly. The article argues that discursive context is crucial for translating early Chinese texts in general, and in particular an ambiguous text like the Laozi.
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