What is it about?
This chapter explores the enormous popularity of the Scottish Young Adult author, Claire McFall, in China. It focuses on her breakthrough series of novels, beginning with 'Ferryman' and attempts to account for its success. The alignment of its themes with Chinese mythology, the 'universalisation' of the story through translation, and the author's increasing engagement with her readership, through direct contact and social media, are all addressed.
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Why is it important?
The chapter is important in that it attempts to account for why certain novels from one culture transfer so successfully to a very different culture. The chapter is not only a scholarly study but an account that will be of interest to publishers, agents, authors and cultural agencies that promote national literatures and local writers.
Perspectives
This chapter was fascinating to write, in part because I was able to interview the author, Claire McFall, herself, as well as her commissioning editor, Caroline Gao, and the translator of her first and most successful novel. Their insights proved invaluable in understanding how this Young Adult novel crossed cultures so well.
Professor Li Li
Macao Polytechnic University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Translation and Cultural Mediation: Repositioning Claire McFall’s Ferryman for the Chinese Market, February 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004723832_018.
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