Luo Niansheng

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Luo Niansheng (罗念生, Λούο Νιάν Σενγκ, * July 12, 1904 , † April 10, 1990 ) was a Chinese Graecist and translator. He was the first Chinese Graecist who lived in Greece in modern times and who translated numerous writings from ancient Greece into Chinese .

Life and accomplishments

Luo was in a circle Weiyuan in the province of Sichuan born. After studying at Tsinghua University , he went to the USA in 1929 for postgraduate studies. From 1933 to 1934 he was in Greece at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens , where he studied ancient drama. In 1934 he returned to China and taught at Peking University and Tsinghua University. From 1952 he worked as a researcher and translator at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences . Luo died in 1990. His last wish was to be buried in Greece. However, a transfer was not possible for bureaucratic reasons.

Luo not only resorted to modern editions of the classics, but also went in search of previously undiscovered and untranslated fragments. In 1957 he developed a system for translating from ancient Greek. He was commissioned by Prime Minister Zhou Enlai to write the first ancient Greek-Chinese dictionary. It took him five years to complete it, supported by a staff.

The work of Luo went largely unnoticed outside of the professional world. From 1986 some Greek daily newspapers dedicated articles to him, in 1988 the WDR broadcast a documentary about him, whereupon The Christian Science Monitor published an article about his work on December 18, 1988.

Works

Translations (selection)
Fonts (selection)
  • Ancient Greek Drama Theory
  • About ancient Greek drama
  • Methodology of translating from ancient Greek
  • Lexicon ancient Greek-Chinese

literature

  • Marianne McDonald: The living art of Greek tragedy , p. 76