Translating Chinese Internet Literature

Translating Chinese Internet Literature: Global Dissemination and Adaptation provides a systematic examination of how Chinese Internet literature (CIL) is translated, adapted, and disseminated worldwide, offering critical insights into its theoretical frameworks, industrial dynamics, and cross-cultural reception. Readers will gain a nuanced understanding of the translation processes and challenges specific to CIL, supported by interdisciplinary perspectives from translation studies, media studies, fan studies, cultural studies, and other relevant fields. This volume features in-depth case studies that trace CIL's global dissemination and unpack the socio-economic factors influencing its international reception. It also includes updated analyses of emerging subgenres and their terminologies, ensuring relevance to contemporary scholarly and industry discussions. This book will appeal to scholars and students in translation studies, media studies, and cultural studies, as well as industry professionals interested in the globalisation of digital literature. Its interdisciplinary underpinning makes it particularly useful for instructors seeking to incorporate CIL into curricula, while its diverse focuses appeal to researchers analysing cultural production across linguistic, cultural, and medial boundaries. It serves as a key reference for engaging with contemporary Chinese literature and literary translation in digital environments.

Wenqian Zhang is Lecturer in Chinese and Translation Studies at the University of Exeter, UK. She is the author of Literary Translators' Brand-Building in Contemporary Chinese-English Translation (Routledge) and the co-editor of the special issue "Literary Translatorship in Digital Contexts" (Translation in Society). Her research interests include the translator's brand, literary translation, sociology of translation, and Chinese Internet literature. Sui He is Senior Lecturer in English-Chinese Translation and Interpreting in the School of Culture and Communication at Swansea University, UK.

Part I: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations 1. Researching the Translation of Chinese Internet Literature 2. Comparing Sentence Structures and Proper Nouns in GPT-4 and Human Translations of Chinese Web Novels: A Computational Stylistics Study 3. Translating Chinese Fantasy across Media: Positioning Translational and Transmedia Fandom in a Transmedia Narrative Ecosystem Part II: Agential Perspective on Translating Danmei 4. From Fandom to Market: The Effect of Fan Management on Translating Danmei into Western Languages 5. Exploring the Circulation and Canonisation of Chinese Internet Literature in Brazil: The Case of Mo Dao Zu Shi 6. Complicating the Concept of Multiple Translatorship: The Reader's Visibility in the Case of Thai Translated Boys' Love (BL) Novels from China Part III: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives 7. Re-Imagining Gender: Transnational Fan Dialogues and Reception of Gender and Sexual Dynamics in Chinese ABO Web Literature 8. (Dis)Pleasures of Domineering Love: A Comparative Study of Chinese Bazong and English Alpha Billionaire Romance Novels and Cross-Cultural Reader Reception