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The ‘By/Of/For the Self’ Triad in A Translator’s Autobiography and Its Translation
School of Chinese MAT Scholar Seminar
The ‘By/Of/For the Self’ Triad in A Translator’s Autobiography and Its Translation
Speaker: Prof. Binhua Wang
(Professor & Head of Centre for English and Additional Languages, Department of Translation, Lingnan University )
Date: 1 June 2026 (Monday)
Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm (HKT)
Language: English
Venue: CRT-7.30, 7/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Mode: In person or online via Zoom
Registration:
https://hku.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3eZ0m7KXDoNahq6
Abstract:
This talk intends to discuss self-translation of autobiographies through a framework of the ‘By/Of/For the Self’ Triad, in which ‘BY the self’ refers to authorship/agency, ‘OF the self’ refers to autobiographical inscription, and ‘FOR the self’ refers to the aims/positioning of the autobiographical writing. It probes how Yang Xianyi, the eminent translator of the Chinese classics A Dream in the Red Mansion, negotiates ‘the self’ across languages, publics and paratexts in his autobiography and its delegated self-translation. As the Chinese versions of his English memoir were not self-translated by Yang himself but delegated to another translator when published in his home country, this can be analysed as an edge case illuminating the limits and possibilities of the ‘BY/OF/FOR the Self’ triad in autographical (self)translation.
About the Speaker:
Prof. Binhua Wang is currently Professor in the Department of Translation at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. Before 2026 he was Chair/Professor of interpreting and translation studies at University of Leeds in the UK, where he served as Director of the Centre for Translation Studies and Programme Manager of the MA programmes in interpreting.
His research interests include interpreting and translation studies, digital humanities, AI-human interactions in T&I, and intercultural studies of Chinese literature and culture, in which he has published many articles in refereed SSCI/A&HCI/CSSCI journals and in edited volumes published by Routledge, John Benjamins, Springer, Brill, Palgrave and Bloomsbury. His recent articles have appeared in Across Languages and Cultures, Digital Scholarship in Humanities, Babel, ITT, Perspectives, Target, The Translator, TIS, Translation Review and in The Routledge Handbook of Conference Interpreting.
His recent books include New Orientations in Interpreting Studies and Interpreter Education (Routledge 2025) and Canonisation through Translation and Retranslation. Digital Humanities Analyses (Routledge 2026, with Yuan Ping). He has also edited with Jeremy Munday Advances in Discourse Analysis of Translation and Interpreting (Routledge). He serves as co-editor of Interpreting and Society and on the editorial boards of Babel, ITT, Forum, Foreign Language Teaching & Research, Chinese Translators Journal, Translation Quarterly and The Linguist.
Please find the detailed poster attached. Kindly register HERE OR via the QR code in the attached poster to secure your seat.
