Chinese Songs in a French Key

In early 1867, a book of poems stunned the French literary world. Titled The Book of Jade, it featured Chinese calligraphy and named ancient Chinese poets as sources, leaving readers uncertain whether the collection was a translation or a French authors invention. Though the book was published under a pseudonym, the author was quickly recognized as Judith Gautier, the young daughter of a prominent writer. Resembling neither contemporary French verse nor any conventional translation of the day, The Book of Jade opened the eyes of readers throughout Europe to classical Chinese poetry. Chinese Songs in a French Key tells the extraordinary story of the birth, rebirth, and rich afterlife of The Book of Jade. Pauline Yu traces the research and creative process behind the book, including Gautiers collaboration with a Chinese refugee known as Tin-Tun-Ling. She shows, through juxtapositions with original Chinese texts, how Gautiers imaginative strategies conveyed core elements of Chinese poetry to a European audience. Yu explores how the works influence reverberated across French letters, Anglo-American modernist poetry, and the international history of translation. The story also unfolds within Gautiers network of luminariessuch as Victor Hugo, Richard Wagner, and John Singer Sargentand against the backdrop of Frances discovery of China through scholarship and plunder. Drawing attention to Gautiers audacity and accomplishments, this deeply researched and elegantly written book provides new perspectives on the surprising routes cultural transmission can take.