“A cool kid”
Queer theory travels to China
This article traces the historical moment when queer theory first arrived in mainland China in the early 2000s by
comparing and contrasting two translated texts in Chinese: Wang Fengzhen’s book Guaiyi Lilun [Peculiar Theory] and Li
Yinhe’s book Ku’er Lilun [A Cool Kid Theory]. Juxtaposing the two translators’ positioning and marketing strategies, along
with their use of paratexts such as book cover design and translator’s prefaces, this article aims to explain why Ku’er
Lilun ended up being a more popular and widely circulated text than Guaiyi Lilun. It also pinpoints the cultural
specificities of queer theory’s reception in the postsocialist Chinese context at the beginning of the new millennium. This article hopes to
provide critical insights into the politics of translating academic theories transnationally, with a focus on paratextual, extratextual, and
contextual factors which work in tandem to shape the reception of these theories in a non-Western context.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- A “cool kid theory”: Queer theory travels to the Sinophone world
- A “peculiar theory”: An estranged encounter between cultural studies and queer theory
- “A cool kid theory”: An intimate encounter between sociology and queer theory
- A utopian theory in postsocialist times
- Conclusion
- Notes
-
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