Transcultural Affinities: In Praise of Wang Zuoliang

The paper investigates the meaning of the term ‘transcultural’ as its use widens, exploring its relationship with alternative terms, some of which it promises to replace: ‘transnational’, ‘intercultural’, ‘translational’, among other examples. The paper focuses on the application of ‘transcultural’ to literature (reading, writing and interpretation) and creative writing, and also considers what it can mean in relation to pedagogical practice in these fields. It makes specific reference to translation in an interpretative and pedagogical context, on the basis that transcultural inquiry will often be accompanied by movement between languages, cultures and societies. The question is asked: is ‘transcultural’ a description of an attribute of a text, or a framework or perspective for interpretation, experiment and creative practice and inquiry? Is ‘transcultural’ then an agentive position, a way of proceeding that creates new knowledge, partly through reflection and scrutiny into its own processes: hence ‘transculturalism’ as alternative pedagogy with radical implications. Examples will be taken from a range of contemporary literary texts including The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee, Carpentaria by Alexis Wright and China in Ten Words by Yu Hua—all texts that are marked by transcultural moves and that succeed in communicating transculturally (across different audiences/communities and/or in translation).