Observation of Customs:A Perspective on the Reading History of Chinese Novels in 19th Century Europe
Novels that are not considered elegant in China have been introduced to Europe since the 17th century and be-come popular and collected in various libraries.They have transformed from private collections to public collections,and Chinese novel texts have been properly preserved,expanding their scope of dissemination.In the 19th century,with the rise of Oriental-ism,Chinese novels entered the history of European reading in the form of customs chronicle.Orientalists believe that novels have a greater advantage in observing customs than other works.Chinese novels circulate in both translated and original forms,appearing to have corresponding readers,but in fact,these two types of readers intersect and influence each other.They all take observation of customs as their reading interest and aim to construct the image of China.Chinese novels have gradually become a part of European literature through various forms such as translation,adaptation,and parody.The reading history of Chinese nov-els in 19th century Europe reflects the gradual integration and acceptance of literature from all over the world in world literature.It prompts us to think about how to understand the"cosmopolitanism"and inclusiveness of Chinese novels and literature,in order to better promote mutual understanding of civilizations.
Chinese novelsreadingcustomobservation of customsworld literature
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
