Popularizing translation refers to the practice of rendering culturally or stylistically complex texts in a way that mediates between the source culture’s specificity and the target lay readers’ everyday knowledge, thereby broadening the audience of the translated text. Although previous research has focused primarily on translation and the popularization of scientific and technical discourse, the role of translation in the popularization of canonical literature remains comparatively underexplored. This paper examines how popularizing translation promotes the intercultural circulation of canonical literature, with Julia Lovell’s new English translation of Xi You Ji (Monkey King: Journey to the West) as a case study. It addresses two key questions: (1) how a target-oriented translated text is produced through popularizing translation of canonical literature and (2) how popularizing translation facilitates the cross-cultural circulation of a canonical work. Through close textual and paratextual analysis, the study demonstrates how Lovell’s translation is characterized by transcreational strategies, including prose adaptation of poetry, recontextualization of humorous effect, and generalization of cultural differences. As a paradigmatic case of popularizing translation, Monkey King promotes the intercultural circulation of Xi You Ji through an integrated approach that generalizes the textual specificity of the original work, whose interpretation presupposes specialized knowledge of Chinese language, literature, culture, and history; condenses the narrative of the story; and incorporates visual and audio elements resonant with global popular culture. This multidimensional approach of popularization not only expands the readership of Monkey King but also participates in constructing a transnational cultural memory of Xi You Ji in the global era.
Zhu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.