Description
Book SynopsisGiulia Falato’s work on Alfonso Vagnone S.J.’ s (1568-1640) Tongyou jiaoyu 童幼教育 (On the Education of Children) offers a systematic study of the earliest treatise on European pedagogy and its first annotated translation in English. In particular, it highlights the role of Tongyou jiaoyu as a cultural bridge between the Chinese and Western traditions. Drawing from archival materials and multi-language literature, Falato produces an insightful account of the Jesuit’s background, the pedagogical debate in late-Ming China, and the making and main sources of the treatise. Through the diachronic analysis of a selection of philosophical terms, this work also provides a fresh perspective on the Jesuits’ lexical innovations and contribution to the formation of the modern Chinese lexicon.
Trade Review'This volume by Giulia Falato is admirable in terms of clarity, structure, extension, and precision, and it definitely succeeds in highlighting Alfonso Vagnone’s contribution to the history of the transmission of ideas and cultural relations between China and Europe. Moreover, this valuable work will hopefully pave the way to further stylistic, lexical, structural, and exegetical analysis of the other works by Vagnone, who was a very prolific author of Chinese works, many of which were written in the same period as Tongyou jiaoyu.' Emanuele Raini, Università degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, vol. xc, fasc. 180 (2021-II).
