The Power of Patronage

Patrons are the people who have some authorities to make decisions for the business profit.

Economy and education play important roles in a society. Traditionally, rich and powerful

people try to control both economy and education. Technologically, there is a close link and

circle among the economic systems, educational systems, and dominant structure of society.

Regarding the business of publication, the patrons—government, publishers, and society

organizations—also play different functions and exert influences on authors. Jeremy Munday

(2001) indicated that patrons form a powerful “Network” to influence translation works (153).

The powerful network might include publishers, editors, copy-editors, and author’s agents. These

people play the key roles at the end of producing and the beginning of selling products. However,

the tide of globalization tends to change everything worldwide. Even children literature is one

of the global cases to be influenced in the same economic system. Munday also noticed the

imbalanced power between patrons and translators:

For many authors writing in other language, the benchmark of success is to be translated into

English. In fact, the decision whether or not to translate a work is the greatest power wielded by

the editor and publisher (154).

Globally, original authors, translators and publishers just follow the tide to earn a survival

space. The survival space for the children literature forms a globalized trend of knowledge

economics. Globalization serves as a connector to link countries with the technological

evolution. It makes different people and countries closer than before because of contact with

the economic system. Michael Cronin mentioned “the global economy has undergone

significant changes in recent decades.” (43) Referring to children literature, the prevailing

trend also makes children literature works closed to different people in different countries

because the publishers need more sale profit for getting more survival space. In order to reach

the publishers’ needs or their judgments about the requirements of market, they follow the

global trend to satisfy different readers’ needs with children’s trade books. Munday stated a

negative viewpoint to translation studies, “The power play may result in the S.T. author being

omitted from the translation process altogether (154).” The purpose of original author and

original works is not important in the global economic system if they cannot earn money for

companies. The connection between publishers and readers becomes an economic link of

knowledge economics to satisfy the narrower and narrower survival space in the world market.

In order to satisfy the needs of different readers, the publishers need particular standard

process to reach those different needs for different readers in considering of sufficiency and

efficiency. The publishers also have to satisfy their needs for business concern. “The final

product is considerably shaped by editors and copy-editors (154).” Munday indicated. Time

and money are the main purposes in the linkage of knowledge economics with technological

power. Both purposes give publishers the space for sales profit. Concerning the business issue,

Michael Cronin addressed his opinion:

From much of the twentieth century, the mass production model was paramount. It was

based on the productivity gains from the economics of scale realized by the mechanized,

assembly-line production of a standard product. The product in turn was sold into a

market dominated by large corporations which were structured on the principles of

vertical integration and institutionalized social and technical division of labor. (12)

Obviously, the social linkage of publisher, original authors and translators will become closer

for the different market needs. Globalization standard plays a key role between publishers and

readers to be a routine procedure in the circle of the link among different positions and needs.

The powerful tendency links two different needs of the market between the suppliers and

customers. From the reader’s position, they need children literature works to satisfy different

functional requirements including educational, and entertainment purposes. From a

publisher’s stance, children literature works must serve to expand their sales profit. The

relationship between publishers and readers is a powerful influence to enforce writers and

translators of children literature works modified for different purposes. To be writers and

translators of children literature works, one has to produce books that meet the interests of

readers as manufacturers do to publishers. In order to operate the link between readers,

publishers, and writers, the function of globalization serves to enforce writers and translators

to provide books to satisfy the public taste and publishers’ business concerns. In the process of

manufacturing, contents and quality, may be out of the main concerns in the circle of the

linkage. In addition, different readers worldwide must accept the provisions from the

manufacturer publishers because the strong power of globalization makes the world more

integrated and uniform. Amazingly, different people live in different places but accept the same

things globally. Patrons provide writers and translators with payment to continue their works.

The relationship between writers and big shots is also the linkage between the monetary system

and the publication system. The big shots play the role of patron to sponsor writers.

In conclusion, there are two elements needed to be concerned between the monetary

system and publication system. One element is the professional support of writers and

translators in the literary system. Another element is the patronage of the literary system.

Firstly, a writer and a translator of children literature works are the authority in their own literary

system. The authority supports writers to produce their own children literature works and has the

privilege to sense the intention of children literary works. Secondly, patronage outside the literary

system, in order for the power to have effect inside the literary system, it must bond with other

elements within the literary system. The patrons who hold certain specialties within the

literary system include people from different fields: the critic, their criticism could easily

influence the reputation of the works or the creation. Teachers and education professionals are

the keys who decide whether the books or resources are useful or not. They could help or

harm the literature-writing world with their personal judgment and ideas. The privilege given

to certain patronage outside the system came from the right possessed by people or organizations.

The power also could be used by a certain individuals, groups, organizations, social classes,

politicians, publishers, or Media. Sometimes translators will affect the ideology of one article

they translate. For example, the specialists are the people who are hired by Disney Company,

to control the tendency of wording to translate Winnie-the-Pooh. This kind of wording

translation may change the idea and creativity of the original author, and lead the readers to

different enjoyment of original version and translated versions. Different readers read

different versions of Winnie-the-Pooh may get different influences and interests.

No matter whether the power of patronage is the same or not, publishing system is

controlled by various forms of patrons. These patrons could be the same publishers or certain

organizations when all the above elements come into existence. In this system, a patron tries to

keep stability of the social system by controlling or following the taste of consumers. On the

other hand, when these elements vary, as the economy element independent from the other

elements, the bestselling novels may not necessarily have a high literary value. The question is

whether the translation of children literature works satisfies the public’s requirements or public

needs are fed by writers and translators. However, all the cases show another main

stream—ideology of those powers.