A Bourdieusian Perspective On The Best-sold Translations Of Foreign Literature In China

Translated foreign literature has played a significant role in the history of modern Chinese literature,facilitating the development of not only Chinese literature but also Chinese society.Since the call on cultivating a high level of cultural consciousness and cultural confidence at the Sixth Plenary Session of the17 th CPC Central Committee in 2011,native Chinese literature has been experiencing vigorous development.In this context,the study on foreign literature circulation in China assumes great urgency to see the interaction between Chinese and foreign literature from a polysystem’s viewpoint.Since the 1990 s,sociological theory has been widely applied in translation studies,where Bourdieusian sociological theory provides a comprehensive analysis model by taking into consideration both external and internal factors.Based on Bourdieusian core concepts of “field”,“capital” and “habitus”,this thesis discusses the impact of external and internal factors on the transmission and acceptance of translated works and the dynamics of Chinese literary field.By sorting out the bestselling lists of contemporary foreign literature in recent years from the three major book-selling websites Amazon.com,JD.com and Dangdang.com in China,various agents are found to be involved,including original authors,publishers,translators and readers in the process of translational activities.Based on the research,it is found that nearly half of the best-selling literature in China’s literary market are foreign works.It seems that translated works have taken the center of the country’s literary arena,a case that goes almost against EvenZohar’s polysystem theory that asserts that,to put it simply,when a culture is stable and confident of itself,its literature would hold the centre,leaving translated literature at the periphery.The research also demonstrates that in China’s literary market as a Boudieusian field,the economic,cultural,social and symbolic capital,together with habitus,bear a vital impact on the dissemination of translated literature.