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Article published In:
Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts
Vol. 8:2 (2022) ► pp.186–205

Star effect and indirect capital preponderance

A case study of The Three-Body Trilogy

| Universiti Sains Malaysia
| Universiti Sains Malaysia

China is vigorously promoting Chinese culture to going global by actively translating Chinese literary works through various translation projects. Now, though, the effect of overseas dissemination of Chinese literature is not significant, readers are still within a limited range of universities, research institutions, etc. The Three-Body Trilogy is an exception, for it is not only the best-selling translation of Chinese literature on Amazon, but also the best in terms of English media attention. Numerous academic studies have examined the direct support of capital advantages of authors, translators and publishers, but limited attention has been given to the indirect capital preponderances of star effects. Framed within a sociological perspective, this study explores the positive role played by the social, cultural and symbolic capital in the dissemination and reception of The Three-Body Trilogy.

Keywords: The Three-Body Trilogy , star effect, capital preponderance, dissemination, reader reception, sociology of translation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Sociology of translation and Bourdieu’s theory of capital
  • 3.Previous sociological studies of The Three-Body Trilogy
  • 4.Star effect and indirect capital preponderance of The Three-Body Trilogy
    • 4.1Research design and questions
    • 4.2Data acquisition and sorting
    • 4.3Data analysis
      • 4.3.1Indirect social capital
      • 4.3.2Indirect cultural capital
      • 4.3.3Indirect symbolic capital
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 10 June 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00091.den
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