家与国的抉择: 晚清Robinson Crusoe诸译本中的伦理困境

In late Qing, Robinson Crusoe, the best-known adventure novel, was translated into Chinese by five Chinese translators respectively, all of whom looked to the novel as a means of national salvation and intended to use their renditions to arouse adventurous spirit among Chinese people. However, Crusoe’s adventure has no relation with national salvation, and his disobedience to his father and his lack of filial affection conflict with Confucian ethics, the dominant ethical norm in late Qing. In order to fulfil the task of enlightenment, the translators, holding different ethical ideas, adopted different translation strategies to link the adventure with national salvation and to defend intentionally or reluctantly Crusoe’s disobedience, thus offering a critique of the filial piety and contributing to the transition of Chinese ethics in late Qing.