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Advances in Linguistics Research
ISSN Print:2707-2622
ISSN Online:2707-2630
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The French Sinological Paradigm Rooted in Translation—A Case Study of Rémi Mathieu’s Work on Soushen Ji
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Information:
School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Shandong University, Jinan, China
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Keywords:
Soushen Ji; Translation and Research; Zhiguai Literature; Rémi Mathieu; French Sinology
- Abstract: Over the course of its development, French Sinology has cultivated a distinctive scholarly tradition in which translation and research are closely intertwined. Rather than serving as a preliminary or auxiliary task, translation serves as a primary mode of inquiry grounded in careful engagement with original Chinese texts. This article examines the work of Rémi Mathieu, a leading contemporary French sinologist and recipient of the 11th Special Book Award of China, whose decades-long engagement with Soushen Ji (In Search of the Supernatural) yielded both a French translation and a subsequent analytical monograph. Taken together, these works go beyond the conventional model in which interpretation is confined to annotations and exemplify a more integrated, translation-driven research paradigm. A comparative reading suggests that translation, in Mathieu’s practice, performs multiple scholarly functions: it facilitates close textual analysis, mediates culturally specific meanings, and raises the questions that guide subsequent interpretation. On this foundation, his later work reconstructs early medieval Chinese supernatural narratives as a coherent cultural system. By tracing this progression from translation to interpretation, the article highlights a broader methodological pattern in French Sinology and offers it as a productive framework for understanding the cross-cultural reception of Chinese zhiguai (records of anomalies) literature.
- DOI: 10.35534/lin.0802007 (registering DOI)
- Cite: Zhang, G. C., & Lu, M. Y. (2026). The French Sinological Paradigm Rooted in Translation—A Case Study of Rémi Mathieu’s Work on Soushen Ji. Advances in Linguistics Research, 8 (2), 69-81.
