Paratextual Framing for Translating and Disseminating the Ming novel Jinpingmei in the Anglophone world

Abstract

This paper examines the paratextual framing of the English translations of Jinpingmei (JPM). The primary focus is on the ways in which two remarkable translations are (re)packaged for the intended audience in the Anglophone world. Drawing upon Genette’s paratextuality theory and contemporary translation theories, the paper attempts to investigate whether and how paratextual elements can (re)shape the two translations and foster the representation of alterity. After presenting the theoretical framework, the paper focuses on the peritexts surrounding the core texts. It argues that peritextual manipulation not merely serves marketing ends but highlights translators’ visibility and ideological intervention in producing translations of premodern Chinese texts in different historical settings in the receiving context. It concludes that translational peritexts can be an effective means to enact cross-cultural construction and that the latest translation demonstrates a higher level of peritextual visibility in sustaining the genre of Chinese vernacular fiction and in promoting images of Chinese culture in the receiving context.