Research report: Anthropomorphic animal in purposeful translations: The Call of the Wild in China

A case-specific analysis of two Chinese translations of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild found that each edition deliberately reshaped the balance between human and animal traits in Buck, the story’s protagonist. The study examines the 1935 and 2005 translations, comparing their cover designs and their treatments of Buck’s brutal training, subsequent ferocity and survival in the wild. Published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications , the research treats translation as a purposeful activity rather than a neutral transfer of the original text: the two editions were tailored to different readers and purposes, producing substantially different versions of Buck’s identity.

The 1935 translation emphasized Buck’s humanity to encourage identification among working-class readers. Its cover visually reinforced this human-centered construction of the protagonist, while the text rendered his harsh training and development as a fiercely combative wolf-dog. The study interprets these adaptations as a means of advancing socialist beliefs.

Buck’s exploitation and later resistance acquired an allegorical dimension, allowing readers to connect his experience with the condition of the working class. The translation nevertheless retained Buck’s wolf-dog combativeness and presented him as an exemplary model of resistance. According to the analysis, this combination opened a literary space for recognizing commonalities across species, even though the edition remained grounded in a socialist allegory.

The 2005 translation pursued a different objective. Intended as a nature-friendly text for children, it accentuated Buck’s animal identity to cultivate compassion toward mistreated animals. The accompanying textual changes also removed depictions of how Buck survives in the wild, accommodating what the authors describe as children’s sensitivities.

Its emphasis therefore redirected the emotional appeal of the story toward empathy for animals while reducing the scope of the wilderness narrative. At the center of the study is what the authors call the duality of anthropomorphism: Buck is represented with both human and animal characteristics, and each translation gives different weight to those elements. In the 1935 version, humanizing Buck supports class identification, while his retained combativeness keeps his identity as a wolf-dog present and allows the story to function as an allegory of resistance.

The authors argue that this human-animal mixture can invite recognition of shared experiences across species. Their conclusion is not that one translation merely preserves the original animal more faithfully than the other, but that each version selectively remakes the protagonist in response to its intended audience and broader purpose. The 2005 version faces a different interpretive consequence, according to the study.

By accentuating Buck’s animal identity, it seeks to foster compassion for mistreated animals, but the authors warn that this approach may narrow the horizon of multispecies engagement. Its child-centered presentation draws attention to animal suffering while minimizing some of the behavior that defines Buck’s life beyond human society. The comparative case demonstrates that translating an anthropomorphic animal protagonist involves decisions about which qualities to emphasize, suppress or preserve.

In the two Chinese editions analyzed, those decisions produced a socialist tale of working-class resistance and a nature-oriented children’s text, respectively, showing how translation can redirect the political, ethical and emotional meanings of a literary character.

Subject of Research: Comparative analysis of anthropomorphism in two Chinese translations of The Call of the Wild

Article Title: Anthropomorphic animal in purposeful translations: The Call of the Wild in China

Article References: Li, X., & Chen, X. (2026). Anthropomorphic animal in purposeful translations: The Call of the Wild in China. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-09506-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-09506-9

Keywords: translation studies, anthropomorphism, The Call of the Wild, Jack London, Chinese literature, human-animal relations, reader adaptation, children’s literature, socialist allegory, multispecies ethics, Anthropomorphic, animal