October 12, 2006
‘Long continuous tradition’ attracts China scholar
As a 17-year-old senior at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, David Knechtges found himself annoyed. He’d read Rickshaw Boy, a story by novelist and dramatist Lao She, discovering afterward that the translator changed the ending from sad to happy.
Knechtges was also fascinated at the prospect of studying a “difficult” language. He decided to become a translator and scholar of Chinese literature himself, walking away from acceptance at Johns Hopkins University, where he had intended to be a chemistry major.
Fast forward to this month, when Knechtges was inducted into one of the most prestigious societies in the world, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His 194-member class included former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, actor and director Martin Scorsese and New York Stock Exchange Chairman Marshall Carter.
In 1964, Knechtges received a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from the UW, followed by a master’s degree from Harvard University and a doctoral degree from the UW. Since then he has specialized in early and medieval Chinese literature and is now a professor of Asian languages and literature.
Asked what fascinates him about Chinese language and culture, Knechtges cited China’s long, continuous literary tradition. “So much has been preserved. There’s no end to what one can read. You could read for 10 lifetimes and not read even 10 percent.”
Knechtges is best known for translating the Wen Xuan, or Selections of Refined Literature, considered the most important anthology of classical Chinese literature. Comprising 761 poems and prose pieces, Wen Xuan covers the third century BC to the sixth century. It’s important not only as a compendium of Chinese literature, Knechtges says in volume one of what he anticipates will be a six-volume work, but a vast assortment of information “about early Chinese flora and fauna, astronomy, mineralogy, dress, weaponry, conveyance, folklore, music and even philosophy.”
Knechtges’ translation of the Wen Xuan is the only one in English; others have been done in German and Japanese.
One of Knechtges’ favorite works in the Wen Xuan is a letter from historian Sima Qian to his friend Ren An. Charged with a capital crime, Sima Qian movingly describes his choice of castration over suicide. He wished to complete a history of China his father had started. “He felt a filial obligation to complete this project,” said Knechtges.
For his part, Knechtges is fiercely attentive to the nuances of the language, carefully annotating when the reader might not understand.
Princeton University Press has published the first three volumes of the work.
Knechtges said he was somewhat surprised by the AAAS honor, which arrived last spring. “I didn’t know much about it until it came.”
Michael Shapiro, chairman of the Asian Languages and Literature Department, said Knechtges richly deserves to be a member of AAAS. “David’s election to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is a fitting recognition of his long and distinguished career in the fields of Chinese literature and Sinology. He is without a doubt one of the West’s pre-eminent scholars and translators of classical Chinese prose and poetry.”
Knechtges is also known for his students. “His dozens of Ph.D. students, many of whom have become renowned scholars in their own right, hold positions at colleges and universities throughout the world,” said Shapiro.
Leaders in the arts, public affairs, business and scholarship make up the Academy, founded in 1780 and headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. Members include Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners as well as winners of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships. Most are American, but a few are foreign, including Henri Loyrette, president and director of the Louvre Museum in Paris, a member of the class of 2006.
“Throughout its history, Fellows of the Academy have been dedicated to advancing intellectual thought and constructive action in America and the world,” Academy President Emilio Bizzi said in a written statement.
A complete list of new members is at the Academy’s Web site: www.amacad.org.
