CONWAY, Ark. (Aug. 3, 2009) – This past June, sitting in a dimly lit study room of the Bibliothèque National de France in Paris, Hendrix College senior Blake Smith hurriedly hand-copied seven rare plays from the early 1700s. Limited to two hours a day with the documents, Smith returned three days in a row with his pencil and notebook.
The history major was copying some of the earliest French plays to make reference to China, such as Les Chinoises, written in 1692 by Jean Regnard. The rare one- and two-act plays were printed in small quantities, for private use, and now can only be found in enormous libraries like the Bibliothèque National, the French equivalent of the Library of Congress.
There was one play Smith didn’t need to copy: Voltaire’s L’Orphelin de la Chine (The Orphan of China). An astoundingly popular play in its time, L’Orphelin can be found on Google Books and in university libraries across the world. The play is the basis for Smith’s senior thesis, and the reason he traveled to France.
Smith’s project was sponsored and largely funded by the Hendrix Odyssey program, a curricular program that offers funding and credit for experiential learning projects at home and abroad.
“Basically, I’m comparing this famous play about China that had this spectacular run – more than 100 shows, which was an absurdly long run in that time – with its much less well known French predecessors,” he explained.
During the mid-1700s, when L’Orphelin was written, spice traders and Jesuits were the only Westerners with firsthand knowledge of China. Europeans were captivated by the exotic Orient, although their perceptions of it were skewed by imaginative literary representations.
“The older plays show China as a fantasy-land full of weird characters and colorful costumes, but don't demonstrate any appreciation of Chinese culture,” Smith said. “So Voltaire made a big deal about the ‘authenticity’ of his own work.”
Voltaire wrote L’Orphelin as a French version of the Chinese play The Orphan of Zhao. Although Voltaire’s version differs sharply from the Chinese original, it was the first European-language translation of a Chinese play.
“Voltaire drastically changed the original play to insert extra Confucian morality, to introduce the French masses to Confucianism,” Smith said. “China was seen by French intellectuals to be a model of good authoritarianism, through the benevolent emperor. Their society was seen to be guided by moral force and Confucian principles, rather than arbitrary violence.”
Smith has summarized his findings in a 15-page paper, which he will expand during the fall semester for his senior thesis.
“I wanted to write a research paper that would be original and have a source base outside of class,” Smith said. “Hopefully I’ll use it as a basis for my work in graduate school and my professional work, if I should be so lucky as to get a job in academia. I’d like to focus on images of East Asia in early-modern Europe, to compare the scientific knowledge Europeans had of China with the cultural portrayals of China.”
Smith, who is fluent in French, read each play in the original French. He has also translated each play to English, for inclusion in the appendix of his thesis.
Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning” is a major component of the Hendrix curriculum. The philosophy is, “You learn more when you do more.” Each student is required to complete three Odyssey experiences selected from six categories: artistic creativity, global awareness, professional and leadership development, service to the world, undergraduate research, and special projects. Smith’s project earned him credit for Undergraduate Research.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is an undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is among 371 colleges featured in the 2010 edition of the Princeton Review America’s Best Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.
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