ABSTRACT
This chapter presents translation as a particular mode of reading and of writing that draws not only on critical engagement with 'source' texts but also on the creative potentials of interaction between languages and cultures in the production of a 'target' text. Translation is shown as a multifaceted practice, integral to the novel's design, narrative progression, and plotting. The chapter argues that increasingly translation, in multiple senses, is integral to contemporary literary production and reception. In focusing on the work of Xiaolu Guo, a Chinese-born writer, now resident in the UK, it illustrates the extent to which translation is implicated in shaping the construction of her narratives. The chapter focuses on Guo's work in relation to translation as motor of critique and invention. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is the dictionary-novel that brought Guo to the attention of an Anglophone public and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2007.
