Franz Walther Kuhn (10 March 1884 – 22 January 1961) was a lawyer and a translator chiefly remembered for translating many Chinese novels into German, most famously the ''

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

''.

Biography

Kuhn studied law at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

and the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, passing his state examination in 1908 and obtaining his doctorate in 1909. He began to practice law in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

in 1909. He was soon assigned to the German delegation to

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

as an interpreter, having completed a course of Chinese during his study at Berlin. He stayed in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

until 1912. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Kuhn began to translate classic Chinese literature into German. Eventually he ran into conflict with the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

authorities, who considered his works to be harmful. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Kuhn's work began to be more widely known and appreciated. He received the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

in 1952.

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

attributes the discovery of a " paradoxical list of animals" to Kuhn. The list has become the subject of much modern commentary after it was cited by Foucault. However, Borges's attribution is the only known evidence that either such a work existed or that Kuhn discussed it. (it is, actually, a fictional attribution; see ''Otras Inquisiciones'' ( in Spanish)).

Translations

* ''Chinesische Staatsweisheit'', Darmstadt 1923 * ''Chinesische Meisternovellen'', Leipzig 1926 * ''Eisherz und Edeljaspis oder Die Geschichte einer glücklichen Gattenwahl'', Leipzig 1926 * ''Die Rache des jungen Meh oder Das Wunder der zweiten Pflaumenblüte'', Leipzig 1927 * ''Das Perlenhemd'', Leipzig 1928 * '' Kin Ping Meh oder Die abenteuerliche Geschichte von Hsi Men und seinen sechs Frauen'', Leipzig 1930 * ''Fräulein Tschang'', Berlin .a.1931 * '' Der Traum der roten Kammer'', Leipzig 1932 * ''Die Räuber vom Liang-Schan-Moor'', Leipzig 1934 * ''Die Jadelibelle'', Berlin 1936 * ''Das Juwelenkästchen'', Dresden 1937 *

Mao Dun Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing; 4 July 1896 – 27 March 1981), known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese essayist, journalist, novelist, and playwright. Mao Dun, as a 20th-century Chinese novelist, literary and cultural critic, and Minis ...

: ''Schanghai im Zwielicht'', Dresden 1938 * ''Die dreizehnstöckige Pagode'', Berlin 1939 * ''Mondfrau und Silbervase'', Berlin 1939 * ''Die drei Reiche'', Berlin 1940 * ''Das Rosenaquarell'', Zürich 1947 * ''Das Tor der östlichen Blüte'', Düsseldorf 1949 * ''Und Buddha lacht'', Baden-Baden 1950 * ''Der Turm der fegenden Wolken'', Freiburg i. Br. 1951 * ''Kin Ku Ki Kwan'', Zürich 1952 * ''Goldamsel flötet am Westsee'', Freiburg i. Br. 1953 * ''Wen Kang: Die schwarze Reiterin'', Zürich 1954 * ''Blumenschatten hinter dem Vorhang'', Freiburg i. Br. 1956 * ''Altchinesische Liebesgeschichten'', Wiesbaden 1958 * ''Die schöne Li. Vom Totenhemd ins Brautkleid'', Wiesbaden 1959 * ''Li Yü: Jou pu tuan'', Zürich 1959 * ''Goldjunker Sung und andere Novellen aus dem Kin Ku Ki Kwan'', Zürich 1960

Notes

References

* Kuhn, Hatto. ''Dr. Franz Kuhn (1884–1961): Lebensbeschreibung und Bibliographie seiner Werke: mit einem Anhang unveroffentlichter Schriften''. Wiesbaden: Steiner, Sinologica Coloniensia; 1980. 180 pp. Bd. 10 . * Walravens, Hartmut. ''Franz Kuhn''. Hamburg 1982. * Peng Chang. ''Modernisierung und Europäisierung der klassischen chinesischen Prosadichtung''. Frankfurt am Main .a.1991.

External links

* * , a short story/essay where Borges attributes a paradoxical list of animals to Kuhn's work on a Chinese encyclopedia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhn, Franz Kuhn, Franz Walter Kuhn, Franz Walter Chinese–German translators Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German expatriates in China German male non-fiction writers 20th-century translators

Biography

Translations

See also

Notes

References

External links