The Translation-Empowered (Re-)Canonisation of a Writer in China and the West: A Case Study of Yan Lianke

The Kafka Prize winner Yan Lianke obtained canonicity in the West, which in return promoted his re-canonisation in China where part of his works had been officially banned. First, drawing on the essentialist and constructivist views based on Polysystem Theory, this article examines the translations’ conformance to the dominant Western literary system. The results show that, while political tags served as a stepping stone for the controversial author to enter into global dissemination, it is the multi-faceted representation of Yan’s literary attainments that has helped him acquire regenerated canonicity in the West where his profound political criticism, universal humanism and modernistic poetics are highly acclaimed. Second, the article analyses the interplay of power relations and China’s self-enhancing motivations by exploring the translations’ back-feeding impacts on Yan from governmental, academic and public quarters. It is found that Chinese literary institutions with the ideology-dominated canonisation mechanism have made concessions and adjustments in response to the disparities between Western and Chinese literary systems, as illustrated in the symbiosis and evolution of Yan’s re-canonisation themes, including the praise for his political reflection, creative literariness and international vision. Finally, this article explores the chances and challenges in the development of regional canons into global canons.