Constructing An Interplay Model Of Translation And Film Adaptation Of Contemporary Chinese Novel From The Perspective Of Actor-network Theory

The interplay between film adaptation and translation has found itself in the communication of the contemporary Chinese novels(hereafter CCNs).Drawing on Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory and Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological concepts(capital,habitus and field),and taking translation as the ending point,this study adopts methods of case study,archival research and model making to propose an integrated model of the interplay between translation and film adaptation of CCNs by investigating the trajectories of human and nonhuman actors in the interplay network and the formation and functioning of the network throughout three phases—preproduction,production and post-production.The major findings are as follows.First,based on the two case studies—Mo Yan’s Honggaoliang jiazu and Yan Geling’s Jinling shisan chai,it is found that the interplay between translation and film adaptation prevails across the three phases.The symbolic capital of the film and the film-related actors helps the initiator to form the network of the translation and publishing,promotes the functioning of the production network and at last,enrolls readers to enlarge the communication network of the translation.Second,replenished with more typical examples,the networks(sub-models)for each phase have been drawn out.In the pro-production phase of translation,the interplay between translation and film adaptation mainly finds itself in the steps of approaching the source novel,initiation of the translation project,and the negotiation on the publishing issues,where the capital of the translation has been accumulated.The network can be categorized into two types—the translator-led and the agency-led.In the production network of the translation,with publishers being the main actors,the interplay is mainly found in paratextual framing,including titles,book covers,and prefaces as peritexts,and reviews,reports,and interviews as epitexts,which reflect different intensity of the interplay according to their intents,commercial or not.In the post-production phase,three interactive relations constitute the network.a)the intertextual relations between translation and film adaptation;b)the interactive relations between readers(audience)and the film adaptation and other relevant actors in the interplay network;and c)the transformative relations between viewers and readers and the enrollment of the new audience.In this network,readers and media are the most active and important actors.Third,based on the main relations extracted from the sub-models,an integrated model has been constructed.Across the three phases,the involvement of the film adaptation with its capital in the translation network helps to enroll actors to promote the formation and functioning of the network.The actors transform the capital of the film adaptation into that of the translation and meanwhile strive for accumulating more capital of the translation through the interplay.Besides,the integrated model describes how the interplay between the translation and the film adaptation enrolls more works and their novelists into the overseas communication network of CCNs.There are mainly three routes: the adaptation-led,the translation-led,and the source-led.Drawing on the insights of the integrated model,the implications for future communication of CCNs are also provided.a)the actors—medium and audience—are supposed to be attached more importance in the communication of CCNs;b)novelists should keep improving their works to be well connected to the world and rooted in where they stand;c)translators are supposed to improve the quality of the translation to provide satisfactory literary products to the audience;and d)publishers should take advantage of the medium and help screen out good works for the audience to effectively promote CCNs.