具体描述
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.
用户评价
##有些沧桑变换感的。另外，当读者在上帝视角看着当初清庭和官僚们的态度，就会觉得很可笑也很可怜。大清亡了？
评分##作为历史读物确实为反欧洲中心论又添了一把柴火。读起来很流畅很有趣。不过，可能从侧面也反映出了一些历史作品的局限性。比如作者说是因为这些cultural mediator给决策者传递了错误的信息所以才导致了很多我们不想看到的后果。但是这也只是一种cultural exchange的情况。（不过还是给proposal灵感来源五星！
评分##译者=背叛的历史渊源，在關詩珮的书里有所领略。作者所谓的「危险」，主要和译者掌握的域外知识有关；而轻视贬低文献以外的口头知识（包括口译），间接导致当权者无知蒙昧，埋下了悲剧的种子。一种抹平差异、倾向调和的翻译范式（李自标、斯当东）逐渐被强调文明等级的典范取代。叙事流畅，部分英文断句有小错，前半部勾勒十八世纪欧亚天主教往来，英国上流社会的教育，很新奇。李自始至终的动力源自虔诚，翻译夹带「私货」险酿大祸，后半生东躲西藏令人动容。斯当东在仕途上郁郁不得志，被视为chinoiserie奇观的一部分，似是区域研究学者从政的某种写照。
评分##我可以
评分##今天我们的外交翻译足够好吗？作者说英国人可能还是听不懂翻译官总的古代表达，以及比较让人困惑的某理论术语翻译……读完有些难过。不管你做了什么，那不过是夏天里飘过的一朵云……鸦片战争的爆发就是因为贸易逆差导致，是不可避免的。双方好译者的缺失只是加速事情的发生一点点……
评分##今天我们的外交翻译足够好吗？作者说英国人可能还是听不懂翻译官总的古代表达，以及比较让人困惑的某理论术语翻译……读完有些难过。不管你做了什么，那不过是夏天里飘过的一朵云……鸦片战争的爆发就是因为贸易逆差导致，是不可避免的。双方好译者的缺失只是加速事情的发生一点点……
评分##可以算是心目中全球史与微观史结合又一个典型案例了，不只是跨文化的故事，更有大问题的关怀。
评分##作为历史读物确实为反欧洲中心论又添了一把柴火。读起来很流畅很有趣。不过，可能从侧面也反映出了一些历史作品的局限性。比如作者说是因为这些cultural mediator给决策者传递了错误的信息所以才导致了很多我们不想看到的后果。但是这也只是一种cultural exchange的情况。（不过还是给proposal灵感来源五星！
评分##沈艾娣对于翻译的看法让我很受震动，她的人文关怀也很让我感动。缺点就是叙事有点琐碎吧，尤其是马嘎尔尼使团那一段看得挺痛苦的。对翻译史是越来越感兴趣啦，作者能把一个小题目做得这么大真的超厉害！接下来要抓紧去看看关诗珮那本书啦~
相关图书
本站所有内容均为互联网搜索引擎提供的公开搜索信息，本站不存储任何数据与内容，任何内容与数据均与本站无关，如有需要请联系相关搜索引擎包括但不限于百度，google,bing,sogou 等，本站所有链接都为正版商品购买链接。
© 2026 windowsfront.com All Rights Reserved. 静流书站 版权所有