Is it realistic to expect great literature of one language to be re-presented artistically intact in another language? Literary Translation: Quest for Artistic Integrity is a systematic delineation of a practical approach toward that seemingly idealist aim. A summing up of a career devoted to the study of literary translation enriched with the experience of translating between several languages, it offers a clear and thorough exposition of the theory behind Professor Jin's monumental achievement in producing a worthy Chinese Ulysses, illustrated with a profusion of enlightening and instructive examples not only from his own work, but also from that of many others, including some world-famous translators. This makes Literary Translation an invaluable reference to translators of literature between almost any pair of languages, not just Chinese and English. It will also be of considerable interest to teachers and critics of twentieth-century literature in English, to students of Modernism, to researchers in comparative literature and in comparative culture, and to teachers of language.

Di Jin is both a translator and a translation theorist. His translations include the very first English collection of Shen Cong-wen's stories The Chinese Earth and English, American and Russian fiction in Chinese, including James Joyce's Ulysses.

Chapter 1 A Conflict of Loyalties; Chapter 2 Ideals and Realities; Chapter 3 Message and the Artistic Integrity Approach; Chapter 4 Acquisition and the Context of a Text; Chapter 5 Transition and Creativity; Chapter 6 The Tightrope of Artistic Integrity; Chapter 7 Overtones in Translation; Chapter 8 The Ultimate Challenge of Style; Chapter 9 Conclusion: Goal of the Artistic Integrity Approach;