Richard Wilhelm and His Critics: A New Evaluation

The great German translator and scholar of ancient Chinese philosophy Richard Wilhelm (1873-1930) is still underestimated in German speaking countries. The reasons are manifold. He was a missionary in the beginning, but turned into a Confucian and finally into a Taoist mainly during his stay in Qing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ching feng (English edition) 2017-01, Vol.16 (1/2), p.53-78
Main Author: Kubin, Wolfgang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
Chinese languages
Chinese literature
Christianity
Confucianism
Confucius (551-479 BC)
European history
Foreign languages
German language
German literature
Heidegger, Martin (1889-1976)
Influence
Interpreters
Literary translation
Missionaries
Nationalism
Philosophy
Postcolonialism
Psychology
Second languages
Translations
Translators
Wilhelm, Richard
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Summary:The great German translator and scholar of ancient Chinese philosophy Richard Wilhelm (1873-1930) is still underestimated in German speaking countries. The reasons are manifold. He was a missionary in the beginning, but turned into a Confucian and finally into a Taoist mainly during his stay in Qingdao (1898-1925). As he was against German nationalists he was not welcome in nationalist Germany. As he was a Christian he is still not tolerated by nowadays sinologues who are without any belief. As a victim of postcolonial theory he is denied the recognition of the internationally most influential sinologue in the twentieth century, but his German translations often rendered into second foreign languages are still "used" as the best possible ones. Through his translations Richard Wilhelm was of great influence upon German philosophy (Heidegger), psychology (Jung), literature (Brecht), etc. He has to be judged as a giant in the European history of thought.
ISSN:0009-4668