Funded by a project award from the Geiss-Hsu Foundation
The Peach Blossom Fan is one of the most important plays in Chinese history. It is also a masterpiece of world literature, acclaimed for the sophisticated ways it uses the tools of the theater to reflect on historical trauma and memory. Wai-yee Li’s annotated translation renders this vital work newly accessible for students of Chinese history, comparative literature, and theater studies. The first complete English translation of the drama and its paratexts, Professor Li’s new edition builds upon, and synthesizes, her groundbreaking research on gender and trauma, the rhetoric of historiography in the Chinese tradition, and literary responses to the Ming-Qing dynastic transition. The play’s central themes—the relationship between art and violence, the perils of political extremism, and the tensions between historical judgment and memory—still speak to our contemporary moment in urgent and profound ways. This roundtable and reception will celebrate the publication of Professor Li’s new translation, reflecting on the enduring significance of The Peach Blossom Fan, the challenges involved in translating this monumental work, and how the play still resonates with readers around the world today. Panelists will share their thoughts on both the drama and the craft of literary translation in general.
Location: Harvard-Yenching, 2 Divinity Avenue
Roundtable: December 5, 4:00-5:30 pm
Welcome and introduction: Tom Kelly (Assistant Professor in EALC, Harvard University)
Responses:
- Wiebke Denecke (S. C. Fang Professor of Chinese Language and Culture, MIT)
- Catherine Yeh (Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at Boston University)
- Eileen Cheng-yin Chow (Associate Professor of the Practice of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)
- Ariel Fox (Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago)
- Canaan Morse (Postdoc Research Associate and Lecturer at the University of Virginia)
- Ellen Widmer (Mayling Soong Professor of Chinese Studies & Professor of East Asian Studies, Wellesley College)
- Wai-yee Li (1879 Professor of Chinese Literature at Harvard University)
Reception: 5:30–7:00 pm (upstairs at 2 Divinity)