From Genetic Criticism to Genetic Translation Studies

Genetic criticism refers to the reconstruction of writing process based on the examination of miscellaneous information resources that bear the trace of a text's creation, such as author's notes, correspondence letters, annotations, plans, sketches, drafts, papers, manuscripts and typesets, etc. Significant in terms of epistemology and methodology for translation studies, it was introduced into the field to discuss translation process and translator's subjectivity. To break new path for translation studies, scholars in China are advised to learn from their foreign colleagues in text encoding initiative, manuscript digitization and manuscript forensics, and put efforts in developing computational analyzing tools, starting academic journals, holding conferences and establishing manuscript research organizations.