This chapter argues that new approaches to the global history of books and the circulation of literatures across national and linguistic boundaries have changed the way we think about reading in translation. We now understand that reading in translation should involve more than an encounter with a stand-alone object and should be regarded as an intellectual and ethical imperative for any genuine student of literature, rather than a secondary or compensatory practice. Writers, translators, and publishers have been raising questions about what we need to read and why, what constitutes native and foreign literatures, the distinction between authors and translators, and the complexity of establishing an original or first version of a work. This chapter examines three recent works in translation that dramatize these changes in striking ways.
The Qing in Global History and Empire Studies: New Approaches and Frontiers
