“The Great Learning” (“Da Xue”) text in the interpretation of Denis Fonvizin

Abstract

This paper is about first Russian translation of Chinese classical confucianistic text “Da xue” (“Great study”) by Dennis I. Fonvizin (1745–1792) — famous Russian writer, philosopher and journalist in the 18th century. Despite Fonvizins translation of “Da xue” is a very popular text and it is featuring in different scientific works, there still not special researches about his translation. There were two appeals to make these analyses. First appeal was made by Alexey L. Leontiev (1716–1786) student of Russian Orthodoxian mission in China, in introduction to his own translation of “Da xue”. Second — by Artyom I. Kobzev- modern Russian sinologist in his paper “Da xues destiny in Europe and Russia”. Purpose of this paper is in detailed analyses of translation of “Da xue” by Dennis Fonvizin. Research is based on comparative analysis of Fonvizin s translation, original Chinese text, French version of “Da xue” by Jesuit Pierre M. Cibot (1727–1780), which was a source of translation for Fonvizin, and Russian translation of “Da xue” by Alexey L. Leontiev. It is possible that Pierre Martial Cibo attempted to emphasize didactical part of “Da xue” before Dennis Fonvizin translate this text into Russian. This paper is a first special work about detailed analyses of translation of this text by D. I. Fonvizin.