Literary tourism in the Canary Islands: the legacy of Sanmao

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to explore two recent initiatives in literary tourism, i.e. two literary trails in the Canary Islands, Spain, linked to the iconic Chinese writer Sanmao, who lived on the islands of Gran Canaria and La Palma in the 1970s and 80s, and who became a literary phenomenon, elevated to myth by many in China for the humanistic power of her narrative. After an overview of new trends in Chinese outbound tourism, the focus is set on Sanmao’s life and literary legacy, including aspects related to the recent publication in the West of the translations of some of her stories, opening her world to a new readership. An outline of theory concerning literary tourism is given, followed by the methodology used in this research. Next, the literary trails designed by the Tourism Boards of both islands are described. The readers’ connections with Sanmao are analyzed through a specific online survey, as well as additional primary data based on a series of interviews with key actors. The results provide a valuable contribution to a better understanding of Sanmao and of the motivations of literary pilgrims who travel to these distant lands in order to pay tribute to her.

摘要

本文旨在探讨最近在文学旅游领域兴起的两个项目: 位于西班牙加那利群岛的两条三毛文旅路线。三毛，著名华语作家，于20世纪70至80年代居住在大加那利和拉帕尔马岛。三毛作品中的人文叙事力量席卷华文世界，她也因此被很多中国人为精神偶像。在概览中国出境游的新趋势之后，本文将重点探讨三毛的生活及其文学著作。例如最近在西方出版的她的相关译作，打开了新的读者群体。本文首先概述了文学旅游相关理论，然后介绍了该研究所采用的方法论。接下来介绍了两个由岛屿旅游局设计的文旅之路。通过特定的在线调查以及一系列关键人物的访谈，笔者分析了读者与三毛的联系。本研究结果期待提供一个全新的三毛解读视角，同时更深入地挖掘文学朝圣者们不远万里向她致敬的动机。

KEYWORDS:

• Sanmao / San Mao
• Canary Islands
• Chinese outbound tourism
• literary tourism
• translation
• cross-cultural communication

关键词:

• 三毛
• 加纳利群岛
• 中国出境游
• 文学旅游
• 翻译
• 跨文化交流

Acknowledgments

Throughout this research, the authors listened to a wide spectrum of voices and wish to thank all the interviewees and respondents to the online survey for their time and useful insights. The authors would also like to thank Xavier Lee Lee (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) and Clelia Antico (translator) for their helpful comments on this paper, and Xiong Zhongmei (PhD candidate in Linguistics at the University of Granada) for additional comments and for the translation of the Chinese text.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

Germana Foscale: Background research, methodology, on-line survey design; fieldwork in China, Gran Canaria, La Palma; attending the Tourism Intelligence Forum 2018 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and presentation of the research project at the 8^th International Conference on Tourism and Hospitality between China and Spain (ICT2018), South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China; writing & editing of the academic paper.

Mariona Galofré Pujol: Background research, Spanish translators’ interviews, on-line survey design, formal analysis of survey results and of the visitors’ book, editing of the academic paper.

Consent

The authors confirm that all the subjects interviewed who are identified in the article have given their written consent, by e-mail, to publish.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported that no external funding was associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Germana Foscale

Germana Foscale is a freelance multilingual writer, translator, and interpreter. Trained in systems thinking and critical social research approaches at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), The Netherlands, and the University of London, UK, she holds a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL, level 3) and an HSK3 in Chinese. Her research interests include literary translation, cultural tourism and cross-cultural communication. (E-mail: [email protected])

Mariona Galofré Pujol

Mariona Galofré Pujol is a freelance translator and interpreter specializing in software localization, marketing, and medical translation and interpreting. She holds a BA in Translation and Interpreting, and an MA in Translation Technologies (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain). Her research interests focus on linguistics and language acquisition, sociolinguistics, as well as translation technologies. (E-mail: [email protected])