Road To Canonization:on The Road In China

American writer Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road has aroused much controversy ever since its publication in1957, because of its rebellious theme and spontaneous writing. Although accompanied by different appraisements, this novel gradually achieves the status of a modern classic under the "collusion" of mass media, publishing, and commercial institutions. In1972, On the Road finally was listed in the Penguin Modern Classics series. Actually, the literary journey of On the Road in P. R. China could also be seen as an evolution from a marginal to central position in the system of Chinese translated literature. Yet it is a long period, spanning about half a century, and accompanied by the renovation of translated versions.Early in the1960s, On the Road was translated in an abridgment and internally distributed in the form of "Yellow Cover Book", labeled as a negative example of foreign literature. Instead of being regarded as a canon, it became the target of scathing criticism. However, after its spread and circulation in society, this translation had struck a responsive chord in the hearts of its readers and came to be an enlightened reading material, which was admired by many youngsters at that time. This effect of the version’s reception sowed the seeds for canonization of this novel in the future.After reform and opening up, several periodicals and anthologies selected some translated excerpts from On the Road, which could be considered as a public introduction to the novel. In1990, the first publicly distributed Chinese version of On the Road was published by Lijiang Publishing House. In order to arouse Chinese readers’interest and ensure the work’s acceptability in Chinese cultural contexts at that time, this version transformed the original work into a popular literature by means of abridging and simplifying, and popularized this novel to some extent. This strategy reserved the possibility of canonization of the novel further.The first complete Chinese version of On the Road was also published by Lijiang Publishing House in1998, which was translated by Prof. Wen Chu-an. For clarifying and correcting the misunderstanding of this novel by Chinese readers, the translator had maneuvered the paratext and text according to his translation skopos that is to justify Beat Literature. Because Wen Chu-an adopted the domesticating translation strategy which complies to norms of target culture, and rewrote the original on occasion to cater for the taste of Chinese readers, his version became very popular with the reading public, which laid a solid foundation for the novel’s canonization in the system of Chinese translated literature.Shanghai Translation Publishing House published the latest Chinese translation of On the Road in2006. This new complete version, translated by a famous translator Wang Yong-nian, had been recognized as the most faithful translation among all the Chinese versions. More importantly, the version evoked a series of strong responses from readers, mass media, publishing and the academia, and finally consolidated the classic status of On the Road in the system of Chinese translated literature.From the study of the introduction and translation of On the Road in P. R. China, it could be concluded that:this novel’s position in the system of Chinese translated literature changes with the change of social-cultural background, and this process involves the necessary retranslating of the original; the retranslating of the original in turn influences the novel’s transition from the marginal to central position, from the non-canonized to canonized status.