Variation Studies of Literary Dissemination: The Image of China and Dee Goong An (Di Gong An)

ABSTRACT Variation studies of literary dissemination, based on the Variation Theory of Comparative Literature, focuses on the heterogeneity and variability in the process of cross-national literary communication, exchange and influence. This paper uses Variation Theory, and elucidates the variation phenomenon when different literatures disseminate and influence each other before proposing the method of variation studies of literary dissemination. Detailed discussions are divided into two categories of case analysis. Firstly, the images of China shown in Western literature experience changes from positive to negative in different periods due to historical milieu, ideology and writers’ personal viewpoints etc. Secondly, the literary text Dee Goong An (Di Gong An) undergoes “China-the West-China” and “Chinese-English-Chinese” circulation. In such a cyclical influence, the text, the image of Judge Dee and Chinese detective novels all experience several instances of recreation and variation, showing that cultural context, readers’ esthetic reception and linguistic variations etc. influence the dissemination of literary texts. Case analysis illustrates that this method conforms to the core idea of Variation Theory, transforming from simply seeking the sameness to filling in the gaps of differences. Thus, a new method is provided for the studies of cross-cultural literary communication.