The Translatability of Revolution

“An inspiring book that offers new ideas for readers to chew and digest.”—Q. Edward Wang, Chinese Historical Studies

“The Translatability of Revolution brings together Guo Moruo’s poetry, dramas, personal essays, and theoretical and polemical writings to present the most sophisticated and far-ranging study in English of this author and his works. Scholars and students of Chinese literature and history, Japanese studies, comparative literature, and translation will all benefit from Pu Wang’s discussion of Guo’s translingual creation of a new poetic subject and from many other insights found in this study.”—Michael Gibbs Hill, College of William & Mary

“Guo Moruo is arguably one of the most controversial figures in modern Chinese literary history. Because of his highly contested image, Guo has never been a popular scholarly subject. In this groundbreaking book, Pu Wang seeks to assess Guo’s literary and political career in terms of his engagement as a ‘translator.’ He defines translation as a transcultural practice that involves not only linguistic rendition but also ideological brokering as well as psychological invocation. Above all, he finds in Guo’s case a compelling testimony to the relationships between language and revolution, historical fabulation and political engagement. Wang’s book is a most important source for anyone interested in translation studies, Chinese and comparative literature, and cultural politics.”—David Der-wei Wang, Harvard University

“A towering figure and the Renaissance Man of Chinese New Culture, Guo Moruo holds the key to a critical and historical decoding of its Zeitgeist and its DNA strains—from lyrical poetry to autobiography, from the modern spoken drama to translation, from literary criticism to archeological philology and Marxist historiography. Pu Wang’s work is an inspiring contribution to the untimely, even heroic, effort at addressing this glaring absence in contemporary scholarship and intellectual discussion.”—Xudong Zhang, New York University