Influence, Translation, and Parallels

The Slovakian literary comparatist and Sinologist Marián Gálik was one of the first scholars to point out the importance of the Christian Bible as a source for secular writing in China. In his Selected Studies, Gálik provides a panoramic view of the Bible's function in twentieth-century Chinese fiction, drama, and poetry. He analyses the different ways in which authors, such as Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Bing Xin, Gu Cheng, and Wang Meng, have appropriated the biblical text. Other themes include recent studies by Chinese scholars on the Bible and comparisons of Chinese translations of biblical texts, namely, the Psalms. Gálik focuses on questions of intertextuality and demonstrates his faith in the possibility of interreligious and intercultural understanding.

The collection of Gálik’s essays is a goldmine in terms of its richness of information, inspiring comments and stimulating ideas regarding the influence of the Bible on Chinese literature in the past two centuries.

Christian Cochini in Chinese Cross Currents

Contents

IRENE EBER: "The Fountain of Living Waters." Introduction

Part I

The "Third Covenant" and Interreligious Understanding. Confessions of an Idealist

The Bible, Modern Chinese Literature, and Intercultural Communication

The Old Testament of the Bible in Modern Chinese Literary Criticism and Creative Literature

The Bible in Twentieth Century China against the Background of Psalms Translations

The Reception of the Bible in the Peoples' Republic of China (1980-1992). Observations of a Literary Comparatist

A Comment on Three Chinese Books on the Bible

A Comment on Three Western Books on the Bible in Modern and Contemporary China

Lü Zhenzhong: One of the Chinese Translators of the Bible


Part II 

The Song of Songs (Šir hašširim) and the Shijing. An Attempt in Comparative Analysis

Mythopoeic Warrior and femme fatale. Mao Dun's Version of Samson and Delilah 

Three Modern Taiwanese Woman Poets (Rongzi, Xia Yu and Siren) on Three Wisdom Books of the Bible 

Temptation of the Princess. Xiang Peiliang's Decadent Version of Biblical Amnon and Tamar 

Young Bing Xin and Her Poetry

Gu Cheng's Novel Ying'er and the Bible

Between the Garden of Gethsemane and Golgotha. The Last Night and Day of Jesus in Modern Chinese Literature (1921-1942)

Matres dolorosae: Musings over Wang Duqing's "Shengmuxiang qian" and Guido Reni's La Crocifissione dei Cappucini

Parody and Absurd Laughter in Wang Meng's Apocalypse. Musings over the Metamorphosis of the Biblical Vision in Contemporary Chinese Literature

Epilogue — Glossary — References to the Biblical Passages