Translation and Reception of Contemporary Chinese Crime Fiction in the English-speaking World

Abstract

This thesis examines how contemporary Chinese crime fiction in English translation is positioned by publishers and received by lay readers in the US and UK markets through analysis of fourteen Chinese crime novels published between 2008 and 2023. Despite increasing global interest and the emerging prominence of Chinese crime fiction in international markets, there remains limited scholarship on how they accumulate symbolic capital and are received by the target readership. The study addresses this gap by investigating the interactions between publishers’ paratextual strategies, lay reader responses, and the evolving image of China in translation.

Drawing on the sociology of translation, the study employs a mixed-methods approach combining paratextual analysis, thematic analysis of 1,085 online reviews from Amazon and Goodreads, questionnaire responses from 126 participants, and insights from 6 focus group discussions with 26 readers in the UK. This data enables an examination of how translated Chinese crime fiction is positioned, received, and interpreted in the Anglophone world, while considering the impact of state policies and institutional support on literature and literary circulation.

The findings reveal how UK and US publishers adopted paratextual strategies as mediators to package and market Chinese crime fiction in the target readership. The digital platforms like Goodreads and Amazon play a part in accessing readers’ responses and focus groups bring about more nuanced insights into how lay readers understand and interpret translated Chinese crime fiction. This interaction between texts, paratexts, and readers indicates an evolving image of China in translation.

The research makes contributions to translation studies and reader reception research by providing empirical evidence of how lay readers respond to Chinese fiction in English translation. It advances the sociology of translation by examining how capital is accumulated and influences the reception of translated genre fiction. Its practical implications for positioning non-dominant literatures in English-speaking markets.