Contextual Representation in Translation Paratexts
A Comparative Study of Paratexts in Different English Editions of Fortress Besieged
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/nvts.2023.2Keywords:
Chinese literature, Fortress Besieged, polysystem theory, socio-cultural contexts, verbal paratexts, visual paratexts, 中国文学, 《围城》, 多元系统理论, 社会文化背景, 语言副文本, 视觉副文本Abstract
This article seeks to study the ways in which different paratextual devices in English-language editions of Fortress Besieged interpret dynamic socio-political contexts for their target audiences. Fortress Besieged by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao, the English translation of Zhongshu Qian’s modern Chinese novel Weicheng, was republished and repackaged from 1979 to 2006, a period marked by ideological struggle, political change, and literary reform in China and throughout the globe. Applying Itamar Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory and the paratextual framework proposed by Kathryn Batchelor, this article compares three selected editions of Fortress Besieged in terms of their publication contexts and paratextual materials, including both visual and verbal paratexts. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that the paratexts in Fortress Besieged are redesigned to reflect the corresponding publishing environment. This is done by shifting the interpretation of modern Chinese literature away from political propaganda and toward high-value literature.
