Cinematic literary translation: the case of A Hero Born

Cinematic qualities in novels have been minutely examined. However, cinematic texture in literary translation remains unidentified and unexplored. Employing “cinematic literary translation” supported by the concept of transmediation as a theoretical linchpin, this article analyzes how films influence literary translation epistemologically, aesthetically, and technically. It examines how the cinematic literary translation of Shediao Yingxiong Zhuan (射雕英雄传), a wuxia novel by Jin Yong, is conceptualized, attempted, and achieved by the translator Anna Holmwood. It demonstrates that Holmwood is inspired by the films directed by Tsui Hark and has strategically appropriated various cinematic techniques such as undercranking, fast cutting, zoom-in shot, and extreme long shot in her translation. These transmedial and intersemiotic appropriations not only accelerate the narrative pace of and confer a cinematic texture on the translation, but also reconfigure the otherwise nationalist literary genre into a postmodern cultural commodity geared toward a global readership.