The Reception of Giles’ and Minford’s English Translation of Liaozhai Zhiyi: A Sentiment Analysis Perspective

Abstract

The overseas reception of the Chinese literary classic Liaozhai Zhiyi (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio) is largely related to readers’ attitudes toward different translations of the classic. The evaluation of readers’ attitudes toward the English translations can help researchers probe the reception of the novel in the English world. Based on Python, sentiment analysis is applied into the study of readers’ reviews from Amazon and Goodreads on two most-read English translations: Herbert Giles’ and John Minford’s translations. This article finds that Liaozhai Zhiyi is well received in the English world due to three main factors. First, the book, composed of diverse short stories, caters to different readers’ preferences. Second, the Chinese elements in the stories meet the needs of readers’ curiosity about Chinese culture and customs. Lastly, Minford’s well-crafted translation and comprehensive peritexts facilitate the acceptance of the book. This article argues that Giles’ relatively rigid translation, outdated peritexts, and clumsy formatting may hinder its acceptance.