R Jongjairuksa, Kulyanee (2018) A sociological approach to the translation of Chinese martial arts fiction into Thai. PhD thesis. SOAS University of London. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/26168 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. A Sociological Approach to the Translation of Chinese Martial Arts Fiction into Thai Kulyanee Jongjairuksa Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD 2016 Department of Languages and Cultures of South East Asia SOAS, University of London Declaration for SOAS PhD thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the SOAS, University of London concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: ___Kulyanee Jongjairuksa______ Date: ______20/11/2017_______ Abstract Despite the fact that only a handful of Chinese martial arts novels have been translated into English, this genre of fiction has been extremely popular among Thai readers since 1957. Such novels occupy a space in the Thai literary field as a genre in its own right and continue to be popular at the present time. One aspect of this genre which makes it interesting to study is the unique hybrid style of the language that is used in the translations, and its pervasiveness in everyday Thai life. The martial arts language style is archaic with the hint of Chinese-ness, making it different from translations of other genres. Yet, despite the idiosyncratic nature of the language style, the genre has been well received in Thai society. The language style has also been adopted for use in other contexts, such as in political newspaper columns. Furthermore, it also has some influence on the language style of local literature written by Thai authors. In this study, I examine from a sociological perspective what lies behind the exceptional success of this translated literature in the target Thai society. Translation practice is looked at as a socially related activity and Bourdieu’s sociology of cultural production serves as the key analytical device. The longstanding relations that pertain between China and Siam/Thailand, and the extensive immigration and assimilation of the Chinese into Siamese/Thai society that led to cultural hybridity between the two cultures, are the main factors that contribute to the acceptability of the language style and the success of such a culturally rich genre in a foreign country. I Acknowledgements This thesis would never have been finished without the advice, supports and encouragement of several wonderful persons. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Rachel V. Harrison for being the best and the most wonderful supervisor I could ever wish for. Not only has she given me insightful suggestions and ideas for my research and read my work again and again, she has guided me through to the completion of my thesis with her patience, kindness and understanding. In addition, throughout my PhD time, she has given me endless confidence and made me believe that I am capable of finishing this thesis. I would like to also thank my second supervisor Professor Michel Hockx and Dr Cosima Bruno, my third supervisor, for their helpful and precious advice and comments. I am immensely grateful to Ajarn Pakorn Limpanusorn, Ajarn Thongtham Natjamnong, Ajarn Phrae Chittiphalangsri, Ajarn Chusak Pattarakulvanit, Khun Prasit Chakattham, Khun Sittidet Saensombunsuk, Joey Dongfang, Kittiphirun, and all my informants and interviewees for the fascinating and invaluable information that fulfils and strengthens my study. My gratitude likewise goes to Ajarn Surasit Amornwanitsak for his support and useful materials for this research. Thank you as well to my friends in Thailand who helped me acquire data and materials I needed whilst I have been here in London. For the perfect language that helps make my thesis more understandable, thank you to Jonah Foran for patiently proofreading my work. In addition, thank you to my dear friends at SOAS for their warmth, encouragement, enjoyable companies and conversations, both intellectual and nonsense, at lunch, tea, or dinner breaks during the long days of writing; to, especially, Chanokporn Chutikamoltham, Sayam Patthranuprawat, and Napat Rujeerapaiboon for their friendship, supports, advice, and for always listening to my complaint; and to my friends in Thailand who give me encouragement no matter what. Last but not least, thank you to my family, my late dad, my mum and my sister, for their love, encouragement and supports and always being there for me. II Table of Contents Abstract I Acknowledgements II List of Illustrations VI Note on Transliteration and Referencing VII Introduction 1 Research Rationale 2 Research Questions 3 Research Methodology 4 CHAPTER ONE Theoretical Framework 6 Sociology of Translation 6 Bourdieu’s Sociology 9 Bourdieu’s notion of field 9 The field of literary production 13 Bourdieu’s sociology and translation studies 25 Casanova’s World Literary Space 27 Conclusion 29 CHAPTER TWO Thai Literary Tradition 32 The Development of Thai Literature 33 The International literary influence 38 Phillips’s Ethnographic Interpretation on Modern Thai Literature 41 Conclusion 47 CHAPTER THREE Thai-Chinese Relations and Assimilation 49 Thai-Chinese Relations 49 To the land of Siam 50 Settlement of the Chinese in the Ayutthaya period 51 III The prosperous Thonburi period 53 Life in the Rattanakosin period 54 The Embeddedness of Chinese Society in Thailand 61 Sources of immigration 61 Chinese schools 62 Siamese nationalism, Chinese-ness, and cultural hybridisation 63 Conclusion 79 CHAPTER FOUR The Martial Arts Genre 81 Martial Arts Novel 81 The development of martial arts novels in China 82 Migration to other Countries and Issues in Translation 85 The translation of the martial arts novel in Thailand 91 Conclusion 99 CHAPTER FIVE Martial Arts Fiction in Everyday Thai Life and the Three Agents 101 Martial Arts Novels in Everyday Thai Life 102 The Readers 113 Who reads martial arts novels? And why? 114 What do readers think about the martial arts language style? 121 The Translators 123 Publishers 127 The Interrelationships Between the Three Agents 129 Conclusion 134 CHAPTER SIX Martial Arts Novels in Thai Translation by Nor Noppharat 136 Behind the Pseudonym ‘Nor Noppharat’ 136 Nor Noppharat and Wor na Mueanglung 140 Nor Noppharat’s Translation Method and Strategies 142 From acquiring source texts to working on translation 142 Translating martial arts novels 144 IV Conclusion 170 CHAPTER SEVEN Martial Arts Novel Language Style 172 The Language Style(s) 172 Kittiphirun 173 Li Linli 176 Bupphahima 181 Joey Dongfang 183 BiscuitBus 187 Conclusion 190 Conclusion 192 Bibliography 198 Appendix 210 V List of Illustrations Picture 1 Martial arts novel translation in the literary field in the Thai society and culture 3 Picture 2 The field of cultural production in the field of power 18 Picture 3 Siamlo yutthajak, by Jiupaethong 104 Picture 4 Siamlo yutthajak, by Jiupaethong 105 Picture 5 Advertisement 106 Picture 6 Advertisement 106 Picture 7 Insi pha-ngat fa, by Nor Noppharat 107 Picture 8 Advertisement 107 Picture 9 Suek wang namthip advertisement 108 Picture 10 Moonraker advertisement 108 Picture 11 Chinese novel shelves 115 Picture 12 Chinese novel shelves outside Bangkok 116 Picture 13 Thai novel shelves. 116 Picture 14 Fan chan 120 Picture 15 Talk on 'The 10 Must-Read-Before-Dead Chinese Novels' 130 Picture 16 Huang Yi's message 131 Picture 17 Yue Guan’s message 131 Picture 18 Huang Yi and Nor Noppharat 132 Picture 19 Krabi Ammahit 153 Picture 20 Jap it nueng 153 Picture 21 Krabi yoei yutthajak 153 Picture 22 Kuaijeng yot wiraburut 154 Picture 23 Mitbin mai phlatpao 154 Picture 24 Phayakkharat son lep 154 Picture 25 Interrelationships between the agents and the society 196 VI Note on Transliteration and Referencing For transliteration of Thai, there is no generally agreed system of representing Thai in Roman script, and all systems have some limitations because the twenty-six letters of the Roman alphabet are not sufficient to represent all the consonants, vowels, diphthongs, and tones of Thai. In this thesis, I have adopted a modified version of the Royal Institute system of romanising Thai. The system makes no distinction between long and short vowel forms; and tones are not represented. I differ slightly from the Royal Institute system in using ‘j’ for the Thai ‘jo jan’, and not ‘ch’, except in accepted spellings of royal titles, where I revert, for example, to the more widely used chao rather than jao. I follow the Thai norm of referring to Thai authors by given names, not surnames, and all citations by Thai authors are alphabetised in the bibliography and elsewhere by given names. I follow the authors’ preferred spelling of their own names in English when known rather than romanising names in keeping with the transliteration system here. For transliteration of Chinese, I have adopted the official romanisation system for Standard Chinese or Pinyin, without tone marks.