DICKENS IN CHINESE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 196, 13 May 1908, Page 4

DICKENS IN CHINESE.

One of the most interesting features, of tlio'j Westernisation of China (says tho,Shanghai' correspondent of "The limes") is tlio' growing, demand for translations of novels and, light literature.; .lii 19U4 there were 21- boolts of this class; 'in 1905 tho number was 7S; at present it i 3.220., ■ l!',or :• the'present, : the selectioii. made by. Chinese translators is curiously erratic, and its results' not a little pathetic; . and tho :wai)siau6u's, frequently niado by men: .'with limited knowledge of v Western. thought and idiom,"' plado 'in -the"'., hand 'of the" reader stories which can hardly leave 'oil his. mind the impression. which their authors would have wished to convey. In catering for the Chinese people it must be borne in mind that our romantic and sentimental ; treatment of :the relations of the sexes is a.; thing so foreign to Oriental ethics . that, the hero of the ordinary Europeaiiv.novel appears ;, to tho Chinese mind :as. perverted moral sense. and .'doubtful sanity. - For this reason one appreciates the fact that translations of . Dumas and Dickens impress the Chinese reader less than they amaze him, and that detective stories, ana tales of advonture command a mora sympathetic audience. . i To the Colestial mind' the love affairs of David Copperlield can only detract from .tho. human interest of. that'hero;, a-Chinese novelist;would;have ."solved'' his' .difficulties,, and avoided much unnecessary pathos, by making him woo and marry , Doro and Sgnes simultaneously. 1 Nevertheless, Dickens commands a steady sale. : The most popular of . all European works of fiction now on the market is "La Daruo aux Camellias"—tho fact is in itself instructive. Others that sell freely are "Treasure Island," "Robinson Crusoe," Washington Irving's: "Sketch. Book," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Ivanlioe," "Dawn," "Tho Talisman," "Les MiSerables," "Manoa Lescaut," tho "Arabian Nights," and "Sherlock Holmes." ' ', Besides- thest; thero is a large sale of. sensational dptectivo stories pntyislied in Japan, and penny sliockors of an unedifying description.