How is retranslation different from previous translation?

As one of the best-known classic novels in Chinese literature, Journey to the West ( Xiyou Ji ) has been translated into English by various notable translators. This chapter compares the retranslation of the novel by Julia Lovell published in 2021 with Arthur Waley&s;s translation published in 1942. Employing a corpus-based stylometric approach to compare the styles of the two translations, it uses the corpus tools of word lists, keyword analysis, and function word analysis. The results reveal stylistic differences between the translations, as reflected in lexical density, sentence length and function words, which point to different translation strategies employed by the translators. The stylistic changes in the retranslation may help to explain the recanonisation of the classic novel. This chapter, which identifies the differences between the translation and the retranslation through corpus-based stylometric comparison, has implications for both translator style studies and stylometry research.