Domestic Appropriation of Chinese Literature in Europe

Abstract

In this article, it is argued that in the process of cultural transfer, literary translation and reception, the recipient will often transform the cultural rules and literary discourse in the original texts to make them fit the rules and discourse of the recipient reader/audience to target the taste of new readers. This phenomenon, which we call literary ‘domestic appropriation’, is a kind of transformation on a deeper level. Domestic appropriation is what can we get from literary variation, and it is the core part of variation studies. In cultural and literary exchange and dialogue between Chinese and European cultures, it occurs in both literary works and literary theory. History has witnessed how Chinese literary works are translated and introduced to Europe, in the process becoming an integral part of the canon of European literature. Chinese literary theory, when interpreted by European theorists, blends with local theory and furnishes new perspectives.