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Martial Arts Fiction: Translational Migrations East and West by Olivia Wai Han Mok Thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Warwick in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Translation Studies University of Warwick Centre for British and Comparative Cultural Studies March 1998 Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Xiaoshuo as a Literary Genre in Chinese Literature 11 Chapter 2: Chinese Fiction in the Eyes of the West 48 Chapter 3: Martial Arts Fiction in Literature, in Libraries and in a Nutshell 78 Chapter 4: Martial Arts Fiction: History, Translation and Migration 104 Chapter 5: Xia as a Cultural Concept in Translation 156 Chapter 6: Generic Difficulties in Translating Martial Arts Fiction 199 Chapter 7: From Translating to Reading Martial Arts Fiction 226 Conclusion 262 Appendices 270 Bibliography 282 List of Tables and Figures Figure: Figure 1. Four Classes of Narration as Recorded in Du cheng ji sheng 28 (MEM Table: Table 1. Classification of Four Translated Martial Arts Novels at 98 Different Libraries Table 2. Martial Arts Novels, by Major Writers, Translated into 145 Different Asian Languages Found in the Libraries of Six Universities in U.S.A. Table 3. Translations of the Term Xia and Its Variants by Different 157 Scholars Appendix: Appendix IA. Classification of Martial Arts Fiction, by Major Writers, at the 270 Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies Appendix IB. Classification of Martial Arts Fiction, by Major Writers, at the 274 Library of Harvard University Appendix IC. Classification of Martial Arts Fiction, by Major Writers, at the 277 Library of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Appendix ID. Classification of Martial Arts Fiction, by Major Writers, at the 279 Library of Chinese University of Hong Kong Acknowledgements My heart-felt gratitude goes to the following who have helped, in various ways, to bring this Ph.D. thesis to fruition: Professor Susan Bassnett, whose vision and stamina always worked wonders and inspired confidence, her guidance and encouragement have been a constant source of inspiration and support, both moral and academic for over five long years, and her timely visit to H.K. in March, 1998 made it all possible for me to submit my work earlier than expected. The teaching staff of the 1992 CERA program - Professor Albrecht Neubert, Professor Jose Lambert, the late Professor Andre Lefevere, Dr. Dirk Delabastita, Dr. Theo Hermans and Dr. Lieven D'Hulst initiated me into a fascinating area in Translation Studies. Dr. Piotr Kuhiwczak and Professor Edwin Gentzler kept up my interest in Translation Studies with their lively lectures at the Centre and their writings. Mrs. Janet Bailey, Centre Secretary, has always been helpful and efficient in handling non-academic problems. The City University of Hong Kong supported me with a staff development fund and granted me study leave in 1993-1994. Mr. C.S. Chan, then Acting Head, supported my application for leave. Colleagues of the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics all shared my teaching load and administrative duties during my absence. Moses Nintai told me what writing a Ph.D. thesis is all about, plus everything I wanted to know about my supervisor and the Centre but was afraid to ask. Chang Namfung, who has shared my joys and agonies of going for a higher degree, encouraged me all the way, not to mention drilling me intensively on polysystem theory. Lawrence Yung, Bai Rongning, Nik, Veronica, Mithu, Sabine, Giovanna set good examples for me to follow on the "do's" and "don't's" for obtaining a Ph.D. Mrs. Frances Dolphin and staff of the Accommodation Office always saw to that I got a roof over my head while in Warwick. Flatmates or hallmates of Redfern, Arthur Vicks, Westwood, Jack Martin, Tocil, and Claycroft helped to make my stay on campus, on and off for five years, a most enjoyable experience. Gerry went to Wales with me while Gloria and Louise went to the Lake District with me. My mother allowed me the luxury of going abroad for long periods by staying sound and healthy; and my younger brother, who has always tried to be helpful in his small own ways, still cannot understand why I had to go into 'solitary confinement' in Coventry for two consecutive summers to draft my dissertation, but he was more than happy to inherit my Canon Bubblejet printer brought back on one of my U.K. study trips. Declaration The research work leading to this thesis has been undertaken in accordance with the safety policy of the University of Warwick. The thesis contains material from the following papers by the author: "Translating Martial Arts Fiction: Some Problems and Considerations." Tamkang Review 24.1 (1993): 117-28 "Cultural Opaqueness in Martial Arts Fiction." Translatio 3-4 (1994): 294-99. "On Translating Jin Yong's Martial Arts Fiction." Journal of Macrolinguistics 5 (1994): 70-79. "What's Wrong with my Translation? Notes on Translating Martial Arts Fiction into English." In Cross Cultural Transfers, Working Papers, ed. Heloisa Goncalves Barbosa. Warwick: Centre for British and Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Warwick, 1994. 62-69. ABSTRACT This thesis was motivated by Robert Chard's puzzlement over the translational phenomenon of martial arts fiction in the West. It proposes to address how the translational migration of martial arts fiction took place, first to other Asian countries in the 1920's, but to the West only after a lapse of a few decades beginning in the early 1990's. Adopting a descriptive approach as described by Gideon Toury, the thesis is intended to add further to the limited inventory of case studies in urgent demand to test the polysystem theory propounded by Even-Zohar. The thesis is made up of two parts. Part I is a macro-level study of martial arts fiction, intended to contribute to testing the limits of the polysystem theory. After examining Chinese fiction as a low form in the Chinese literary polysystem and its weak function as translated literature in the Western literary polysystem, the study explores the translational phenomenon of martial arts fiction in the West as well as the concurrent phenomenon as to why so little of martial arts fiction has been translated into Western languages, compared to the copious amount into other Asian languages, to the extent of stimulating a new literary genre or (re)writing martial arts fiction in indigenous languages in Indonesia, Vietnam and Korea, sinicized countries or countries boasting large overseas Chinese communities. Issues and problems related to these translational activities and cultural phenomena are presented as tools to test the limits of the polysystem theory. Part II is a micro-level study focussing on the specifics of rendering Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain by Jin Yong into English. I will argue, in the main, that many difficulties, inherent in both the translating and reading processes, can be constructed within the theoretical framework of Andre Lefevere's concept of "constraint", particularly that of the universe of discourse. Lefevere's connotation of the universe of discourse will be expanded to embrace different cultural presuppositions and literary assumptions underlying two divergent world cultures, hence different reader expectations in the reading process. It is hoped that the findings and results of this descriptive case history of martial arts fiction as a literary genre in translational migrations will contribute to the accumulation of knowledge. Introduction A Case History to Test the Polysystem Theory This thesis was motivated by Robert Chard's puzzlement over the translational phenomenon of martial arts fiction in the West. It proposes to address how the translational migration of martial arts fiction took place, first to other Asian countries in the 1920's, but to the West only after a lapse of a few decades beginning in the early 1990's. Adopting a 'descriptive approach" as described by Gideon Toury, the thesis is intended to add further to the claim made in the Leuven seminar of 1976 that the polysystem theory propounded by Itamar Even-Zohar 'should be constantly tested against case-histories',2 and also to add to 'the limited inventory of case studies, which is in such urgent need of enrichment, in sheer numbers as well as in terms of variety of behaviours',3 as Toury wrote in 1995. The case history chosen is martial arts fiction as a literary genre in translational migrations. Issues and problems related to these translational activities and cultural phenomena are presented as tools to test the limits of the polysystem theory. Robert Chard, who has pioneered the translation of martial arts fiction by introducing Huanzhulouzhu's Blades from the Willows to the West in 1991, seems to be puzzled by the question of why this genre, which depicts 'exploits of chivalrous fighters [which] have captured the popular imagination for more than two thousand years, and are celebrated in ancient historical works and poetry', 4 has been neglected for so long. He I See Gideon Toury, Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995). 2 Andrê Lefevere, 'Translation Studies: The Goal of the Discipline (Appendix)', in Literature and Translation, ed. by James S.