Constructing the literary translator as a brand
Methodological considerations
Recent attention to the human aspects of translation and translators (e.g.,
Pym 2009;
Kaindl et al. 2021) has resulted in a possible “human
turn” (
Bergantino 2022, 7) in translation studies, which brings new questions and
avenues for researchers working in the subdomain of translator studies. Against this backdrop, this article first constructs the
concept of ‘the translator’s brand’ for investigating the evolution of literary translators into prominent status. It then
outlines a three-level framework of brand-building to analyse the personal development of individual literary translators.
Combining the transferrable points from the brand-related literature with the Bourdieusian sociology of cultural production, it
argues that the formation of a literary translator’s brand can be analysed from intra-field (brand input), inter-field (brand
investment) and inter-cultural (brand reception) levels. Lastly, the application of this methodological framework is demonstrated
in a case study of a prominent Chinese-English literary translator in science fiction, Ken Liu, in the twenty-first century.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.A humanising understanding of ‘the translator’s brand’
- 3.Outlining the methodological framework: Brand-building at intra-field, inter-field and inter-cultural levels
- 4.Analysing the brand-building of Ken Liu
- 4.1Brand input at the intra-field level
- 4.2Brand investment in the inter-field circuit
- 4.2.1Standing out
- 4.2.2Fitting in
- 4.3Brand reception at the inter-cultural level
- 5.Conclusion
- Note
-
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Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Zhang, Wenqian, Motoko Akashi & Peter Jonathan Freeth
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