A Comparative Analysis of Female Character Portrayals in Two English Full-Translation Versions of Journey to the West

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-511-9_45How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Female character portrayal; Post-colonial theory; Feminist translation theory

Abstract

Journey to the West, a classic of Chinese literature, has seen varied translations that risk cultural misinterpretation. This study compares Yu Guofan’s and Jenner’s English translations of female characters (deities, demons, humans) through postcolonial and feminist translation theories. Findings reveal that translation entails multilayered negotiations of cultural power, gender ideology, and translator identity, extending beyond linguistic transfer. Translation is not merely a linguistic conversion, but also a battleground for cultural power and gender politics. This study reveals that Yu’s translation version belongs to the academic school, emphasizing cultural fidelity and serving “Eastern religious research”. The objective re-creation of the “gender power structure” is constrained by the “depoliticization” framework of Western Sinology. Jenner chooses a straightforward and popular approach, adapting to Western culture and catering to the cognitive needs of Western readers. Jenner’s translation version takes a more popular approach, serving the readability of Western readers, it portrays Eastern women as “others” that conform to the imagination of Western centrism, implicitly undermining the “subjectivity” of “Eastern women” during the Cold War era.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Leyan Liu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - A Comparative Analysis of Female Character Portrayals in Two English Full-Translation Versions of Journey to the West
BT  - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Literature, Art and Human Development (ICLAHD 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 397
EP  - 403
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-511-9_45
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-511-9_45
ID  - Liu2025
ER  -