William John Francis Jenner

{{Short description|British historian (born 1940)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix =  | name = William John Francis Jenner | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1940}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | region = | other_names = | occupation = Sinologist, translator | period = | known_for = | title = | boards =  | spouse = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards =  | website = | education = | alma_mater = [[University of Oxford]]{{which|date=August 2018}} | thesis_title = Memories of Loyang. Yang Hsüan-chih and the Lost Capital | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | discipline = Sinology | influences =  | era = | sub_discipline =  | workplaces = [[University of Leeds]], [[Australian National University]], [[University of East Anglia]]. | doctoral_students =  | notable_students =  | main_interests = Chinese history, [[Chinese literature]] | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }}

'''William John Francis "Bill" Jenner''' ({{lang-zh|t=詹纳尓}}; born 1940) is an English sinologist and translator, specialising in [[History of China|Chinese history]] and [[Chinese culture|culture]], and translator of [[Chinese literature]].

== Biography == William (Bill) Jenner was educated from 1953 to 1958 at [[Westminster School]] and from 1958 to 1962 at the [[University of Oxford]] where he studied sinology and wrote his [[dissertation]] about the history of [[Luoyang]] in the fifth and sixth centuries, especially through the work of [[Yang Xuanzhi]]. His first wife was the China scholar [[Delia Davin]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/16/delia-davin-obituary|title=Delia Davin obituary|last=Gittings|first=John|date=16 October 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|issn=0261-3077|access-date=2016-10-18}}</ref>

From 1963 to 1965, he worked as a translator at [[Foreign Languages Press]] in Beijing. There he translated ''From Emperor to Citizen'', an "autobiography" of the last [[Emperor of China]], [[Puyi]], and started translating the novel ''[[Journey to the West]]'' into English.

Since 1965, Jenner has taught at the [[University of Leeds]], [[Australian National University]] and the [[University of East Anglia]].

From 1979 to 1985, Jenner travelled to China every summer, and worked on the translation of ''Journey to the West'' and other works, for example by [[Lu Xun]]. He has written about the process and politics of translating and publishing ''Journey to the West'' in an essay published in the ''[[Los Angeles Review of Books]]'' (3 Feb 2016).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-02-03 |title=Journeys to the East, "Journey to the West" |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/journeys-to-the-east-journey-to-the-west |website=Los Angeles Review of Books |first1= W J F |last1=Jenner |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229104005/https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/journeys-to-the-east-journey-to-the-west/ |archive-date= Feb 29, 2016 }}</ref>

He was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the [[Australian Academy of the Humanities]] in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fellow Profile: Bill Jenner |url=https://humanities.org.au/fellows/fellow-profile/?fellow_id=176 |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities |language=en-AU}}</ref>

His most recent project is ''The History of China'' in two volumes.

Jenner has two daughters, one son and seven grandchildren.

== Partial bibliography == === Translations === * {{cite book | last = Cheng'en | first = Wu | author-link = Wu Cheng'en | others = W.J.F. Jenner (translator) | title = Journey to the West | publisher = Foreign Languages Press | location = Beijing }} * {{cite book | last = Xun | first = Lu | author-link = Lu Xun | others = W.J.F. Jenner (translator) | title = Selected Poems | publisher = Foreign Languages Press | location = Beijing | year = 1982 }} * {{cite book | last = Ling | first = Ding | author-link = Ding Ling | others = W.J.F. Jenner (translator) | title = Miss Sophie's Diary and Other Stories | publisher = Panda Books / [[Chinese Literature Press]] | location = Beijing | year = 1985 }} * {{cite book | last = Various | others = W.J.F. Jenner (translator) and [[Gladys Yang]] (translator) | title = Modern Chinese Stories | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1970 }} * {{cite book | last = Various | others = W.J.F. Jenner (translator), Delia Davin (translator) and Cheng Lingfang (translator) | title = Chinese Lives. An Oral History of Contemporary China | publisher = Pantheon | location = New York | year = 1987 }} * {{cite book | last = Pu Yi | first = Aisin-Gioro | others = W.J.F. Jenner (translator) | title = From Emperor to Citizen. The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1987 }} ::{{cite book | last = Pu Yi | first = Aisin-Gioro | others = W.J.F. Jenner (translator) | title = From Emperor to Citizen. The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi | publisher = Foreign Languages Press | location = Beijing | year = 1992 }} * {{cite book | last = Leping | first = Zhang | others = W.J.F. Jenner (translator) and C.M. Chan (translator) | title = Adventures of Sanmao the Orphan | publisher = Joint Publications | location = Hong Kong | year = 1981 }} * {{cite book| last= Jen |first=Yu-wen| author-link = Jian Youwen | title=The Taiping Revolutionary Movement|year=1969}}

=== Monographs === * {{cite book | last = Jenner | first = W.J.F. | title = Memories of Loyang. Yang Hsüan-chih and the Lost Capital, 493–534 | publisher = Clarendon Press / Oxford University Press | location = Oxford / New York | year = 1981 }} * {{cite book | last = Jenner | first = W.J.F. | title = The Tyranny of History. The Roots of China's Crisis | publisher = Penguin | location = London | year = 1992 }} * {{cite book | last = Jenner | first = W.J.F. | title = A Knife in My Ribs for a Mate. Reflections on Another Chinese Tradition | publisher = Australian National University | location = Canberra | year = 1993 }}

=== Articles === * {{Cite journal | last = Jenner | first = W.J.F. | title = Race and History in China | journal = [[New Left Review]] | volume = II | issue = 11 | date = September–October 2001 | url = http://newleftreview.org/II/11/w-j-f-jenner-race-and-history-in-china }} * {{Cite journal | last = Jenner | first = W.J.F. | title = 1979: A New Start for Literature in China? | journal = [[The China Quarterly]] | volume = 86 | pages = 274–303 | doi = 10.1017/S0305741000028460 | date = June 1981 }} * {{Cite journal | last = Jenner | first = W.J.F. | title = Introduction to Mao's "Letter to Comrade Lin Piao" | journal = [[New Left Review]] | volume = I | issue = 65 | date = January–February 1971 | url = http://newleftreview.org/I/65/w-j-f-jenner-introduction-to-mao-s-letter-to-comrade-lin-piao }} * {{Cite journal | last = Jenner | first = W.J.F. | title = The New Chinese Revolution | journal = [[New Left Review]] | volume = I | issue = 53 | date = January–February 1969 | url = http://newleftreview.org/I/53/w-j-f-jenner-the-new-chinese-revolution }} * {{Cite journal | last = Jenner | first = W.J.F. | title = History in the Manufacture | journal = [[New Left Review]] | volume = I | issue = 41 | date = January–February 1967 | url = http://newleftreview.org/I/41/w-j-f-jenner-history-in-the-manufacture }} * {{Cite journal | last = Jenner | first = W.J.F. | title = China Today | journal = [[New Left Review]] | volume = I | issue = 17 | date = Winter 1962 | url = http://newleftreview.org/I/17/w-j-f-jenner-china-today }}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenner, William John Francis}} [[Category:1940 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Academics of the University of East Anglia]] [[Category:British sinologists]] [[Category:English historians]] [[Category:21st-century English translators]] [[Category:British literary translators]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Leeds]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]] [[Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities]]