On The Translation And Dissemination Of Allen Ginsberg’s Poems In China (1959-2021)

Allen Ginsberg,the leading member of the Beat Generation in America,is known for his rebellion against mainstream orthodoxy and his “spontaneous” approach of poetry composing,which has resulted in a distinctive personal poetics.Since his first introduction in China in the late 1950 s,Ginsberg and his poetry have been known by Chinese for over sixty years,and have taken on a new life in the Chinese literary community.However,Ginsberg and his poetry have not received enough attention in translation studies.This study pays attention to the nearly six decades of Allen Ginsberg’s poetry in translation,delineates two stages,analyses the background of poetry translation activities in each stage,depicts the main features of translators,publications,and texts,and examines their influence on Chinese literature,especially the new poetry creation methods.This study is a case study of the history of contemporary translated literature,based on individual case to explore the development of the translations of European and American literature from exclusionary criticism to compensatory translation to market orientation,and attempts to combine translation and dissemination study with poetics theory;it adopts early translations and latest translation results that have received little attention,while taking the poems of the Third Generation Poetry Movement into consideration to explore the real influence of Allen Ginsberg’s poetry translation.The study delineates the whole process into two with the first anthology of Allen Ginsberg published in 1991 as the dividing point,and finds that: Firstly,after more than twenty years of criticism and neglect,translations of Ginsberg’s poetry finally witnessed the meaningful breakthrough,but were still limited in quantity and low in quality in the 1980 s,showing the long-standing superficial understanding of Ginsberg’s poetics in China;secondly,the early Chinese translations of Ginsberg’s poetry inspired the free and colloquial approach of literary groups such as the Third Generation Poetry Movement;thirdly,since the 1990 s,the number of translations of Ginsberg’s poetry has gradually expanded and the quality has also improved;fourthly,Ginsberg has received more comprehensive attention from the academic community in China,away from the previous biased and excessive situation.The history of Chinese translation of Ginsberg’s poetry reflects the gradual opening of translation activities after 1949,and at the same time is indispensable to the poetry and literature of the new period as nourishment,but also witnesses the flourishing of local literary source power.