ABSTRACT
The definition of collaborative translation is highly contested and forms of collaboration are variously designated. The approach to collaborative literary translation often taken is to focus on who is collaborating with whom and to taxonomise the collaborations according to relationship. A key process in actor–network theory is that of translation, closely tied to the very notion of network. Adopted before the Internet came to dominate the connotations of the term, network was conceived of as a series of transformations. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang provide a paradigmatic case of companion collaborative translation as viewed through the lens of actor–network theory. Seen from the point of view of the writer, collaborative translation depends on interpersonal trust. One of the risks of author–translator collaboration is that it prickles even further the already thorny bramble of ownership, control and credit for the literary translation, already tangled even without the author's involvement.
