Jesuit Rhetoric and Language Studies in Modern Shanghai
Ruth Hayhoe
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is an interesting manuscript and I agreed to review due to my interest in the subject. It was fascinating for me to learn about all the items in the 1923 Catalogue and the efforts of the Jesuit community to build real bridges in the area of rhetoric between Chinese and European classics, drawing on Matteo Ricci’s amazing legacy. I was particularly interested in learning about the role of Zottoli in all this, as I did research on Ma Xiangbo, the founder of L’Aurore (Zhendan) who was a great admirer of Zottoli, but was turned off by some of the contemporary French Jesuits who he felt did not give adequate respect and attention to the Chinese side and their demands in the first two years of Aurore – he thus left the university and the order, though it had been founded on land he had donated, and help to found Fudan, a second Aurore. I note he is not mentioned in this paper and probably there was no need, but just wanted to say it was a surprise to me to learn about the resources and research outlined here.
Author Response
- As suggested but the first Reader, mention should be made of Ma Xiangbo, who certainly contributed to create a "Chinese-language Jesuit rhetoric" in S
I introduced a rather long paragraph on this important figure, stressing his link with Fr Zottoli, his mastership of both Latin and classical Chinese, and the rhetorical options that guided his translation of the Four Gospels.
- Context of the Catalogue. How unique or different is the Catalogue when compared to other Jesuit publications prior to and after 1923?
Added
As these were commercial pamphlets, similar catalogues were not systematically preserved. The one in our possession constitutes an excellent sample of the way works published the Jesuit-led Press were advertised to the public, at a times where Catholic and especially Jesuit activities in Shanghai were still experiencing strong growth.
3) French language
A full sub-part has been added on this topic. See in the article: 4.3
4) In the first paragraph, a rather wide temporal gap between the Reformation and the 19th and 20th centuries needs to be addressed more directly.
Added briefly in introduction.
The 17th and 18th century saw the consolidation and expansion of this institutional and pedagogical network, mainly in Europe. At the end of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic conquests and the development of state-sponsored education somehow weakened the influence of Jesuit education in the territories where it was at its strongest. However, from 1830-1840 onwards, the development of the Catholic missions throughout the world gave the Jesuit model of education new impetus. The focus on the skills and outlook that Rhetoric provides the student with was maintained in the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, when Jesuits were developing their educational network in their new mission territories.
5) I also polished language and references throughout the text.
Reviewer 2 Report
This is an interesting analysis of the roles which language and rhetoric played in the catholic community of Zi-ka-wei in Republican China. The Catalogue of 1923 serves as an illuminating case but needs to be situated more firmly in a historical and historiographical context. For example, how unique or different is the Catalogue when compared to other Jesuit publications prior to and after 1923? And what does the Catalogue reveal in terms of how we understand the question of language and rhetoric in Republican Shanghai?
The following are some more specific questions:
In the first paragraph, a rather wide temporal gap between the Reformation and the 19th and 20th centuries needs to be addressed more directly.
l. 158: "As if reciprocally" --- Meaning of reciprocity is unclear in this context.
l. 201: Explain in which two languages these volumes were written.
l. 219: Meaning of "intense" is unclear.
l. 236: Provide more context for what "difficulty" means here.
l. 251: "They certainly would never achieve eloquent perfecta in Chinese." Explain why.
l. 469: Explain what the "rapid evolution of these dialects" means here.
l. 478: "The Catalogue of 1923 points towards a work in process, which its very nature as well as historical circumstances would compel to stay unfinished." -> Meaning of this final sentence is unclear. What does "unfinished" mean here?
Author Response
- Context of the Catalogue. How unique or different is the Catalogue when compared to other Jesuit publications prior to and after 1923?
Added
As these were commercial pamphlets, similar catalogues were not systematically preserved. The one in our possession constitutes an excellent sample of the way works published the Jesuit-led Press were advertised to the public, at a times where Catholic and especially Jesuit activities in Shanghai were still experiencing strong growth.
3) French language
A full sub-part has been added on this topic. See in the article: 4.3
4) In the first paragraph, a rather wide temporal gap between the Reformation and the 19th and 20th centuries needs to be addressed more directly.
Added briefly in introduction.
The 17th and 18th century saw the consolidation and expansion of this institutional and pedagogical network, mainly in Europe. At the end of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic conquests and the development of state-sponsored education somehow weakened the influence of Jesuit education in the territories where it was at its strongest. However, from 1830-1840 onwards, the development of the Catholic missions throughout the world gave the Jesuit model of education new impetus. The focus on the skills and outlook that Rhetoric provides the student with was maintained in the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, when Jesuits were developing their educational network in their new mission territories.
5) I also polished language and references throughout the text.
