Cover not available
Article published In:
Target
Vol. 13:1 (2001) ► pp.81–102

Translational migration of martial arts fiction East and West

| City University of Hong Kong

This paper explores the translational phenomenon of why so little of martial arts fiction has been translated into Western languages, compared to the copious amount into other Asian languages. Investigation into the translational migration of martial arts fiction demonstrates that the “normal” position assumed by translated literature tends to be a peripheral one. However, different patterns of behaviour can be observed, depending on the hegemonic relations between source and target cultures. In the West, martial arts fiction in English translation is being relegated to an extremely peripheral position. But martial arts fiction is able to make inroads into Asian countries, to the extent of stimulating a new literary form or (re)writing martial arts fiction in some indigenous languages.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translational migration to other countries in Asia
    • 2.1Mongolia
    • 2.2Vietnam
    • 2.3Thailand
    • 2.4Cambodia
    • 2.5Indonesia
    • 2.6Malaysia
    • 2.7Korea
    • 2.8A case of interference in other Asian countries
  • 3.Translational migration to the West
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Glossary of Chinese Names and Titles
  • References
Published online: 27 May 2002
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.13.1.06mok
References
Bassnett, Susan
1993 Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
1997 “Moving Across Cultures: Translation as Intercultural Transfer”. J.M. Santamaría, Eterio Pajares, Vickie Olsen, Raquel Merino and Federico Eguíluz, eds. Trasvases culturales: Literatura, cine, traducción 2. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Universidad del Pais Vasco 1997 7–20.Google Scholar
Bishop, John Lyman
1965 The Colloquial Short Story in Chinese: (A Study of the San-Yen Collection). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Chang, Tsong-zung
1985 “Martial-Arts Fiction Keeps the Past Alive”. Far Eastern Economic Review 8 (August). 401.Google Scholar
Chard, Robert
1991 “Translator’s Preface”. Huanzhulouzhu 1991:7–11.Google Scholar
Even-Zohar, Itamar
1978 Papers in Historical Poetics. Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, Tel Aviv University. [Papers on Poetics and Semiotics 8.]Google Scholar
1979 “Polysystem Theory”. Poetics Today 1:1–2. 287–310.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1990 Polysystem Studies. Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, and Durham: Duke University Press. [=Poetics Today 11:1.]Google Scholar
1990a “The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem”. Even-Zohar 1990:45–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1990b “Laws of Literary Interference”. Even-Zohar 1990:53–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gálik, Marián
1990 “Interliterary and Intraliterary Aspects of the Study of Post-1918 Chinese Literature”. Howard Goldblatt, ed. Worlds Apart: Recent Chinese Writing and Its Audiences. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe 1990 231–245.Google Scholar
Gentzler, Edwin
1993 Contemporary Translation Theories. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gu, Long
1990 Les quatre Brigands du Huabei: roman d’aventures, tr. Christine Corniot. Arles and Paris: Philippe Picquier.Google Scholar
Hamonic, Gilbert and Claudine Salmon
1987 “Translations of Chinese Fiction into Makassarese”. Salmon 1987a:569–592.Google Scholar
Hegel, Robert E
1981 The Novel in Seventeenth-Century China. New York: Columbia University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hsia, Adrian
1996 Review of Yong Jin 1993 . Contact (October). 361.Google Scholar
Huanzhulouzhu
1991 Blades from the Willow, tr. Robert Chard. London: Wellsweep.Google Scholar
1997 Seeds of Evil tr. Robert Chard. London: Wellsweep.Google Scholar
Indonesian Popular Serial Fiction: Martial Arts, Romance
191–. Indonesia: s.n.
Jin, Yong
1972 Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain tr. Robin Wu. Serialized in Bridge, Part I, 1.4 (March/April). 42–49; Part II, 1.5 (May/June). 36–44; Part III, 1.6 (July/August). 17, 29, 40, 42, 45–50; and Part IV, 2.1 (September/October). 40–45.Google Scholar
1993 Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain tr. Olivia Mok. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.Google Scholar
1997 The Deer and the Cauldron: A Martial Arts Novel BookOne tr. John Minford. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
1999 The Deer and the Cauldron: A Martial Arts Novel BookTwo tr. John Minford. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, Andrew F.
1994 “Chinese Literature in the ‘World’ Literary Economy”. Modern Chinese Literature 8. 171–190.Google Scholar
Kao, Karl S.Y
1985 Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Kuhiwczak, Piotr
1990 “Translation as Appropriation: The Case of Milan Kundera’s The Joke ”. Susan Bassnett and André Lefevere, eds. Translation, History and Culture. London and New York: Pinter 1990 118–130.Google Scholar
Lambert, José, Lieven D’hulst and Katrin Van Bragt
1985 “Translated Literature in France, 1800–1850”. Theo Hermans, ed. The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary Translation. London-Sydney: Croom Helm 1985 149–163.Google Scholar
Lefevere, André
1978 “Translation Studies: The Goal of the Discipline”. James S. Holmes, José Lambert and Raymond Van den Broeck, eds. Literature and Translation: New Perspectives in Literary Studies. Leuven: acco 1978 234–235.Google Scholar
Li, Zhizhu
1993 “Zhongguo wu xia xiao shuo zai Hanguo de fan yi jie shao yu ying xiang” [Translation and influence of martial arts fiction in Korea]. Department of Chinese, Tamkang University, ed. Xia yu Zhongguo wen hua [Knight-errantry and Chinese culture]. Taipei: Taiwan xuesheng shudian 1993 77–90.Google Scholar
Liao, Jianyu
1987 “Yinni wu xia xiao shuo kai lun” [An introduction to martial arts fiction in Indonesia]. Li Litu and Chen Rongzhao, eds. Nanyang yu Zhongguo—Nanyang xue hui si shi wu zhou nian ji nian lun wen ji [Southeast Asia and China: A collection to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Southeast Asiatic Society]. Singapore: Nanyang Xuehui 1987 141–185.Google Scholar
Liu, James J.Y
1967 The Chinese Knight-errant. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ma, Yau-woon
1971 The Pao-kung Tradition in Chinese Popular Literature. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International.Google Scholar
Ma, Yau-woon and Joseph S.M. Lau
eds. 1978 Traditional Chinese Stories: Themes and Variations. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Manomaivibool, Prapin
1987 “Thai Translations of Chinese Literary Works”. Salmon 1987a:317–320.Google Scholar
McNaughton, William
1974 Chinese Literature: An Anthology from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Vermont and Tokyo: Tuttle.Google Scholar
Nepote, Jacques and Hoc Dy Khing
1987 “Chinese Literary Influence on Cambodia in the 19th and 20th Centuries”, tr. Noel Castelino. Salmon 1987a:321–372.Google Scholar
Ni, Kuang
1980 Wo kan Jin Yong xiao shuo [Reading Jin Yong’s martial arts novels]. Taipei: Yuanjing chuban shiye gongsi.Google Scholar
Radó, György
1987 “A Typology of LLD Translation Problems”. Babel 33:1. 6–13.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Riftin, Boris
1987 “Mongolian Translations of Old Chinese Novels and Stories—A Tentative Bibliographic Survey”, tr. Jeanne Kelly. Salmon 1987a:213–262.Google Scholar
Salmon, Claudine
ed. 1987a Literary Migrations: Traditional Chinese Fiction in Asia (17–20th Centuries). Beijing: International Culture Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
1987b “Malay Translations of Chinese Fiction in Indonesia”. Salmon 1987a:395–440.Google Scholar
1987c “Writings in Romanized Malay by the Chinese of Malaya: A Preliminary Inquiry”. Salmon 1987a:441–496.Google Scholar
1987d “A Note on Javanese Works Derived from Chinese Fiction”. Salmon 1987a:375–394.Google Scholar
Song, Yo-In
1991 “Remarks on Cultural Transfer from LLD”. TTR 4:1. 63–79.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Suryadinata, Leo
1987 “Postwar Kongfu Novels in Indonesia: A Preliminary Survey”. Salmon 1987a:623–659.Google Scholar
Tan, Siew Eng and compiler
1982 Chinese Kungfu Stories in Indonesia: A Bibliography Selected from the IDC Collection. Sydney: Bibliographic Information on Southeast Asia, 1982microfiche negative. [BISA Special Project 96.]Google Scholar
Toury, Gideon
1980 In Search of a Theory of Translation. Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics.Google Scholar
1995 Descriptive Translation Studies and beyond. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vanderauwera, Ria
1985 Dutch Novels Translated into English: The Transformation of a “Minority” Literature. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
1992 “Introduction”. Lawrence Venuti, ed. Rethinking Translation. London and New York: Routledge 1992 1–17.Google Scholar
Wang, Chi-chen
1944 Traditional Chinese Tales. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Wang, Gungwu
1964 “A Short Introduction to Chinese Writings in Malaya”. T. Wignesan, ed. Bunga Emas: An Anthology of Contemporary Malaysian Literature 1930–1963. Kualua Lumpur: Rayirath Raybooks 1964 249–256.Google Scholar
Yan, Bao
1987 “The Influence of Chinese Fiction on Vietnamese Literature” tr. Noel Castelino. Salmon 1987a:263–316.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 8 other publications

Chang, Jie & Gang Zhao
2022. The Reader’s Visibility: Analyzing Reader’s Intervention in Fan-based Translation on Wuxiaworld. Translation Review 113:1 ► pp. 33 ff. DOI logo
Chen, Lin & Ruoyu Dai
2022. Translator’s narrative intervention in the English translation of Jin Yong’s The Legend of Condor Heroes. Perspectives 30:6 ► pp. 1043 ff. DOI logo
Diao, Hong
2023. A Survey and Critique of English Translations of Jin Yong’s Wuxia Fictions. In Understanding and Translating Chinese Martial Arts [New Frontiers in Translation Studies, ], ► pp. 49 ff. DOI logo
Lee, Sangjoon
2011. Martial Arts Craze in Korea: Cultural Translation of Martial Arts Film and Literature in the 1960s. In East Asian Cinema and Cultural Heritage, ► pp. 173 ff. DOI logo
Song, Ge
2023. Translating Chinese Martial Arts for a Global Audience: A Multimodal Perspective. In Understanding and Translating Chinese Martial Arts [New Frontiers in Translation Studies, ], ► pp. 37 ff. DOI logo
Sun, Yingbin & Linxin Liang
2023. Exploring the Author–Translator–Publisher Relationship Using Bourdieu’s Capital: A Case Study of Jin Yong’s Martial Arts Fiction. Critical Arts 37:5 ► pp. 76 ff. DOI logo
Vesterinen, Rainer
2017. Mood choice in complements of Spanishcomprenderand Portuguesecompreender(‘understand’) – distribution and meaning. Languages in Contrast 17:2 ► pp. 279 ff. DOI logo
Wu, Kan & Dechao Li
2021. Normalization, Motivation, and Reception: A Corpus-Based Lexical Study of the Four English Translations of Louis Cha’s Martial Arts Fiction. In New Perspectives on Corpus Translation Studies [New Frontiers in Translation Studies, ], ► pp. 181 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.