Chapter 3 Peritextual Performance: Théodore Pavie’s Histoire des Trois Royaumes
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Abstract
This chapter looks at Théodore Pavie’s little-known and incomplete French translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, translated from the bilingual Manchu-Chinese edition of the text. After evaluating Pavie’s background as a Romantic writer and amateur scholar, this chapter focuses on Pavie’s use of peritexts, for unlike his earlier work and the translations of both his contemporaries and his teachers, Pavie’s translation of Three Kingdoms contains a lengthy introduction, numerous footnotes, and copious endnotes. Examining each in turn, this chapter shows how Pavie tried to use these peritexts to present himself as a professional scholar, to “pass” as a Sinologist. While this chapter finds that Pavie’s introduction and footnotes were successful at helping Pavie to pass, it concludes that his endnotes, which consist mainly of corrections and indicate a heavy reliance on the Manchu translation, undermine his position entirely, further suggesting that this may have contributed to the general lack of success his translation found.