Translating Queer Desires
Chinese-Language Queer Literature and English Translation
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:26th Feb '27
£171.99
This title is due to be published on 26th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Ma explores the intricate and multifaceted terrain of Chinese-language queer literature and its English translation through the lens of queer translation studies.
Drawing on insights from queer translation studies and Ma's own experiences as a queer translator, this book examines how cultural, linguistic, and sexual norms are navigated, negotiated, and reimagined through the act of translation. Spanning works from early twentieth-century literature to contemporary fiction and speculative writing from mainland China and Taiwan, the book traces the complex interplay between translating and translated cultures. It sheds light on the sociocultural, aesthetic, and ethical dimensions of queer translation, offering a nuanced exploration of how translation can act as a site of queer intervention and creativity. Through detailed case studies and close textual analysis, it reconsiders themes of desire, language, and the act of translation itself, revealing how translation not only enriches queer expression but also provides critical insights into the historical evolution of Chinese-language queer literature and its global circulation.
An essential read for academics in the field of translation studies, queer theory, comparative literature, and Chinese studies. It is also a crucial entry point for translators and researchers interested in global circulation of queer texts, cross-cultural translation ethics, Sinophone studies, and emerging debates in world literature.
'Yahia Zhentgtang Ma’s monograph Translating Queer Desires is a meticulously researched and lucidly written book that brings Chinese studies, queer studies and translation studies into productive dialogues with each other. Paying careful attention to the articulation of diverse genders, sexualities and desires through the mediation of languages, texts and affects, the book highlights the translator’s pivotal role and creative agency in the global circulation of sexualities and texts. Challenging conventional paradigms such as the normal and the abnormal, the original and the derivative, the authorial and the translational, the book asks crucial questions such as what translators do (and why they cannot be replaced by AI), why translation matters today and what makes a text queer.'
Hongwei Bao, co-editor of Sino-Queer Translation: Mediating Sexualities Across Languages, Cultures, and Borders
'This remarkable book relocates the hitherto marginalized question of translation into its rightful place at the very heart of transnational Chinese-language queer literary studies. With meticulous care, Ma shows how the alchemical labours of queer translators connect queer literary cultures in the Sinosphere with Anglosphere scenes, texts and movements, mediating the mobility of queer desires. Theoretically sophisticated, methodologically adventurous, and packed with literary erudition, this book transforms the way we understand not only queer literatures in Chinese, but the nature and meanings of translation itself.'
Fran Martin, Professor of Cultural Studies, The University of Melbourne
'Yahia Zhengtang Ma's Translating Queer Desires represents an important and timely contribution to Queer Translation Studies, offering original insights into the global circulation of queer writing between the Anglosphere and the Sinosphere. Ma's investigation combines theoretical frameworks with his own translational practices to produce new understandings of and approaches to queer(ing) translation.'
Brian James Baer, author of Queer Theory and Translation Studies: Language, Politics, Desire
ISBN: 9781041341703
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
228 pages