Exploring Louis Cha’s martial arts novels in the English-speaking world: translation, dissemination and reception

Liu, Zhaolong (2025) Exploring Louis Cha’s martial arts novels in the English-speaking world: translation, dissemination and reception. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Louis Cha (1924-2018) is a representative writer of martial arts novels in contemporary Chinese literature, whose works have gained great popularity among the readers in Chinese communities. Cha’s works have been translated into English in the past few decades.

This thesis aims to explore how Cha’s works are translated, disseminated and received in the English-speaking world. Drawing on paratext theory, polysystem theory and reception theory that jointly serve as its theoretical framework, this thesis focuses on four English translations: (1) Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain (1993), Olivia Mok’s translation of Xueshan Feihu, (2) the three-volume The Deer and The Cauldron (1997, 1999 and 2002), John Minford’s translation of Lu Ding Ji, (3) The Book and The Sword (2004), Graham Earnshaw’s translation of Shujian Enchou Lu and (4) Legends of the Condor Heroes (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), Anna Holmwood, Gigi Chang and Shelly Bryant’s co-translation of Shediao Yingxiong Zhuan. To achieve the aims of the research, each case study first examines the translator and the translation strategy which affects the shaping of the translation, then it analyses the paratexts to illustrate how they play a role in enabling the translation to enter the target literary system and promote its dissemination. In order to grasp the reception of the translation and identify the affecting factors, each study devotes its last section to investigating two types of book reviews: literary reviews that are written by scholarly readers and published in journals or newspapers and popular reviews that are written by general readers and posted on the shopping website Amazon, the reading community Goodreads and the social media X.

This study finds that different translation strategies are employed to translate Cha’s works and they have affected the reception. It is recommended that collaborative translation be adopted to translate Cha’s lengthy novels. An analysis of the paratexts of the translations reveals a range of actors at work, thus accentuating an agent-driven and process-oriented approach. Studying the reviews illustrates that Legends of the Condor Heroes gained the best reception while Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain ranked last. Moreover, studying the reviews identifies both the extratextual and textual factors that affect the reception. Adopting theories and approaches in Literary Studies and Translation Studies, this thesis highlights the importance of interdisciplinary studies and contributes to current studies by extending the research scope. It further points out the future directions in this field where multimodal translations of Cha’s novels should be taken into consideration.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported by funding from the China Scholarship Council.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities
• Funder's Name: China Scholarship Council (CSC)
• Supervisor's Name: De Francisci, Dr. Enza, Bassnett, Professor Susan and Woolley, Dr. Nathan
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85222
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 19 Jun 2025 14:01
• Last Modified: 19 Jun 2025 14:05
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85222
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85222