Traduções dos Analectos e a Alteridade Chinesa: Entre Evangelização, Modernismo e Pluralismo

Translating The Analects and Chinese Otherness: Between Evangelization, Modernism, and Pluralism

Abstract

This article offers a comparative analysis of modern English translations of Confucius’s Analects, with emphasis on the versions by James Legge, Ezra Pound and Arthur Waley. Through a critical reading of passages involving central concepts such as ren (仁), li (礼), and dao (道), the study explores how different translational strategies reveal distinct modes of reception and construction of Confucian thought in the West. Based on the premise that translating the Analects is also an epistemological act, the article proposes a critical framework informed by He Jiuying’s “Three World Perspectives on Chinese Characters.” The study demonstrates that each translation reflects a specific cultural stance toward Chinese alterity—either domesticating it within Western categories, transforming it into a symbol of aesthetic resistance, or acknowledging its historical and philosophical complexity. Ultimately, the article highlights the translator’s role as an intercultural mediator and argues for a pluralist approach that respects the polyphony, opacity, and diffuse authorship of classical Chinese texts.

Keywords: Confucius; The Analects; translation; ren; dao; epistemology of translation