Esperanto jako medium transferu antycznych azjatyckich legend w zapośredniczonych przekładach nowel Henryka Sienkiewicza na chiński Zhou Zuorena i Lu Xuna
Esperanto as a Medium for the Transfer of Ancient Asian Legends in the Mediated Translation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Short Fiction into Chinese by Zhou Zuoren and Lu Xun

Summary/Abstract: The article, through a micro-analysis of second-hand translation (from the Polish original into Esperanto and then into contemporary Chinese), seeks to familiarise the reader with the topic of transfer between distant literatures. It focuses on the literary strategy of re-writing Asian mythological legends, specifically, it presents the transfer of motifs from Henryk Sienkiewicz’s short story Two Meadows, re-written on the basis of Indian legends, through Kazimierz Bein’s translation into Esperanto to Zhou Zuoren’s Chinese translation, and on to the later work by Lu Xun (actually Zhou Shuren, Zhou Zuoren’s older brother). The article demonstrates the effectiveness (as well as sometimes the lack thereof) of Ludwik Zamenhof’s artificial language as a means of literary transfer on the example of selected fragments of the translation of the short story Two Meadows. The method used in the article is a close reading of fragments in Polish, Esperanto and Chinese. Finally, it presents an example of Chinese ancient legends rewritten (the legend 补天 [To mend the sky]) from Lu Xun’s late works, which are inspired by the translations of his younger brother’s works that he edited. The text is situated in the realm of literary studies and translation studies.

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