具體描述
The 1793 British embassy to China, which led to Lord George Macartney’s fraught encounter with the Qianlong emperor, has often been viewed as a clash of cultures fueled by the East’s disinterest in the West. In The Perils of Interpreting, Henrietta Harrison presents a more nuanced picture, ingeniously shifting the historical lens to focus on Macartney’s two interpreters at that meeting—Li Zibiao and George Thomas Staunton. Who were these two men? How did they intervene in the exchanges that they mediated? And what did these exchanges mean for them? From Galway to Chengde, and from political intrigues to personal encounters, Harrison reassesses a pivotal moment in British-China relations. She shows that there were Chinese who were familiar with the West, but growing tensions endangered those who embraced both cultures and would eventually culminate in the Opium Wars.
Harrison demonstrates that the Qing court’s ignorance about the British did not simply happen, but was manufactured through the repression of cultural go-betweens like Li and Staunton. She traces Li’s influence as Macartney’s interpreter, the pressures Li faced in China as a result, and his later years in hiding. Staunton interpreted successfully for the British East India Company in Canton, but as Chinese anger grew against British imperial expansion in South Asia, he was compelled to flee to England. Harrison contends that in silencing expert voices, the Qing court missed an opportunity to gain insights that might have prevented a losing conflict with Britain.
Uncovering the lives of two overlooked figures, The Perils of Interpreting offers a valuable argument for cross-cultural understanding in a better-connected world.
用戶評價
1. 史料翔實，句句有齣處。 2. （世界）曆史真的不像我腦瓜裏記得的那樣簡單。eg.虎門銷煙 3. Dont kill the msger, 同理，dont kill the interpreter. eg.簽訂《NJ條約》時，我方沒有自帶口譯員，因為不敢接活。美在敘利亞行動的口譯員。 4. 李自標和小斯當東的經曆，放在今天也是不多的。
評分##有些滄桑變換感的。另外，當讀者在上帝視角看著當初清庭和官僚們的態度，就會覺得很可笑也很可憐。大清亡瞭？
評分##瀋艾娣對於翻譯的看法讓我很受震動，她的人文關懷也很讓我感動。缺點就是敘事有點瑣碎吧，尤其是馬嘎爾尼使團那一段看得挺痛苦的。對翻譯史是越來越感興趣啦，作者能把一個小題目做得這麼大真的超厲害！接下來要抓緊去看看關詩珮那本書啦~
評分##作為曆史讀物確實為反歐洲中心論又添瞭一把柴火。讀起來很流暢很有趣。不過，可能從側麵也反映齣瞭一些曆史作品的局限性。比如作者說是因為這些cultural mediator給決策者傳遞瞭錯誤的信息所以纔導緻瞭很多我們不想看到的後果。但是這也隻是一種cultural exchange的情況。（不過還是給proposal靈感來源五星！
評分##應當是掌握瞭相當多的一手史料
評分##可以算是心目中全球史與微觀史結閤又一個典型案例瞭，不隻是跨文化的故事，更有大問題的關懷。
評分##作為曆史讀物確實為反歐洲中心論又添瞭一把柴火。讀起來很流暢很有趣。不過，可能從側麵也反映齣瞭一些曆史作品的局限性。比如作者說是因為這些cultural mediator給決策者傳遞瞭錯誤的信息所以纔導緻瞭很多我們不想看到的後果。但是這也隻是一種cultural exchange的情況。（不過還是給proposal靈感來源五星！
評分##譯者=背叛的曆史淵源，在關詩珮的書裏有所領略。作者所謂的「危險」，主要和譯者掌握的域外知識有關；而輕視貶低文獻以外的口頭知識（包括口譯），間接導緻當權者無知濛昧，埋下瞭悲劇的種子。一種抹平差異、傾嚮調和的翻譯範式（李自標、斯當東）逐漸被強調文明等級的典範取代。敘事流暢，部分英文斷句有小錯，前半部勾勒十八世紀歐亞天主教往來，英國上流社會的教育，很新奇。李自始至終的動力源自虔誠，翻譯夾帶「私貨」險釀大禍，後半生東躲西藏令人動容。斯當東在仕途上鬱鬱不得誌，被視為chinoiserie奇觀的一部分，似是區域研究學者從政的某種寫照。
評分##“以小見大”的微觀史作品，主角是早已成為曆史注腳的兩位譯者。作者從史料中迴溯瞭小斯當東和李自標的一生，從兩位譯者的角度分析瞭當時中英兩國的文化碰撞。前者因怕遭迫害而離開中國，從此以後再也沒有來過中國，後者則在東躲西藏中度完餘生。翻譯並不是一件容易的事，尤其是在兩國外交之時，譯者首當其衝，兩頭不討好，稍有不慎便會釀成不可挽迴的後果，他們的選擇甚至可以影響兩個國傢的關係。但譯者又是極易被忽視的群體。即使是在今日，李和小斯當東的經曆也極為不平凡，而兩人之間的跨越山海的友誼則證明：隻要我們認真傾聽、共情和瞭解彼此，我們就能一起創建互相連接、和平對話的世界。
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