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Learning to Stand and Speak: Sarah K. Bolton's Lives of Girls Who Became Famous (1886) and Its Paths to China via Japan

Seminar|CCL17180066

Learning to Stand and Speak: Sarah K. Bolton's Lives of Girls Who Became Famous (1886) and Its Paths to China via Japan
24 NOV 2017
Speaker(s)
Professor Ellen B Widmer (魏愛蓮教授) (Mayling Soong Professor of Chinese Studies; Professor of East Asian Studies, Wellesley College)
Time
12:30 - 14:00
Venue
Council Chamber, SWT 501, Shaw Tower, Shaw Campus
Language
English, Cantonese (Supplementary)
Corresponding GA(s)
Learning; Knowledge; Creativity
Organizer
Department of History; Mr. Simon Suen and Mrs. Mary Suen Sino-Humanitas Institute; Gender Studies Concentration
Sarah K. Bolton’s Lives of Girls Who Became Famous was written to inspire young women in America, but it was noticed in Meiji Japan and translated into Japanese. Of the four known translations, two receive special attention in the paper. These are Lessons from Famous Women of the World, Ancient and Modern and American by Tokutomi Roka and European Girls Who Became Famous by Nemoto Shô. Bolton’s words entered the discourse of late-Qing China, one of whose missions was to encourage women to have more confidence in developing opinions in the public realm. The paper reviews the English, Japanese, and Chinese phases of this evolution and draws conclusions about the differences and similarities between them.

Enquiry
Miss Michelle Chan
34117174
michyychan@hkbu.edu.hk