Echi letterari italiani nelle riviste Xiaoshuo yuebao e Dongfang zazhi negli anni venti

Which Italian works had been offered to the Chinese readership at the beginning of the 20th century? And what was, if any, the contribution of Italian literature to the creation of the new modern canon and to the cultural and literary Chinese debate at that period? Certainly, Italy and its literature had played a minor role in the process of creation of modern Chinese literature; indeed, if we have a look at the list of foreign literary works translated during the first three decades of the 20th century, we rarely find a complete translation of Italian works, or rather we could only find some brief examples of Italian works: short novels, some poems or partial translations. The paper will try to answer these questions by analysing some of the first Chinese translations of Italian literary works published in two important magazines: Xiaoshuo yuebao and Dongfang zazhi. Through the reading and analysing of these essays, we will try to interpret what was the Chinese reception, or mis-reception, of some expressions of Italian literature at the beginning of 20th century, what was the aim, and perhaps, the contribution to these translations in the process of definition of new genres in China.

Il saggio analizza la recezione della letteratura italiana in Cina nelle prime decadi del XX secolo, esaminando articoli e pubblicazioni apparsi su due dei principali periodici del periodo: Xiaoshuo yuebao e Dongfang zazhi.