“Cultural carrying” from the periphery to the centre in the transnational literary field: a sociological investigation of book translations from China to Anglo-American countries

The international market of book translations is characterised by an asymmetrical and hierarchical structure. Following the works of Johan Heilbron and Gisele Sapiro in the sociology of translation, and Pascale Casanova’s notion of the world republic of letters, which were all inspired by Bourdieu’s sociology, this thesis understands books in translation as cultural products circulated across borders which are embedded in uneven power relations of languages and nation-states. With the aim of understanding how Chinese books get translated and published from China to Anglo-American countries, this thesis examines the centre-periphery relations between Chinese and English in the international market of book translations, the key players involved, and the networks constituted by various actors which facilitate the transnational transfer process of book translations. By proposing the notion of cultural carriers, it identifies the vital role that China’s rights managers play in the exportation of Chinese literature to abroad, demonstrating that their practices are shaped by power relations in the transnational literary field and their national background where state power exerts significant influence in book translation and publishing. The publication journey in the UK of one contemporary Chinese children’s novel - Bronze and Sunflower - is analysed as a case study of the range of actors (both human and non-human) within an actor-network facilitating the transnational transfer activity. Using mixed methods which combine descriptive quantitative statistical analysis, in-depth qualitative interviews, observations in book fair settings and a case study approach, this thesis, as a whole, highlights the contributions made by agents from the source country (i.e. China) to the translation flow from the peripheries to the centres in the international book market, and demonstrates the difficulties posed for books from the periphery to enter the central fields by the power relations of the centre-periphery world-system of book translations.