Abstract:

Christopher Atwood’s new translation and introduction of The Secret History of the Mongols in the Penguin Classics series (released in the US in July 2023) is a major publishing event in the fields of Central Eurasian studies, medieval literature, and world history. Written in Middle Mongolian in the 13th century by an author in the Mongol imperial court, the original work underwent complicated textual transmission before its painstaking reconstruction by generations of modern scholars. Along the way there have been some translations, in English notably by Francis Woodman Cleaves (later adapted for general readers by Paul Kahn) and Igor de Rachewiltz. The latter translation, though dwarfed in extent by commentaries in an expensive work aimed at scholars, demonstrated that the text as such has tremendous potential to be appreciated by nearly anyone as a work of literature. That potential is now fully realized in the new Penguin. In translating the SHM, Atwood draws on his deep knowledge of the text and its interpretations, and his well-honed skills in translating medieval sources on the Mongols for general readers. In contextualizing the work, Atwood offers what readers expect in the best Penguin Classics: a point of view informed by his own advanced scholarship on the SHM’s authorship, composition, date, and unique genre characteristics. The panelists will join the translator in exploring that point of view as well as the work’s features, while reflecting on the publication’s potential impact on scholars, students, and general readers who may recognize only the notoriety of the Mongol Empire and who are curious to read an insider’s account of its formation.