I found an article about the situation of the four major classics in the United States. I think it is very representative. You can read it. The following is an excerpt from the article:
China’s Four Great Classics are still “ivory tower” works in the American book market. Generally, they are rarely seen in American bookstores. It seems that “ "Chinese fever" and "China fever" have not yet risen to the level of Chinese classical literature. When you walk into an ordinary American bookstore, the most popular Chinese books you see are "Tao Te Ching", "Sun Tzu's Art of War", Feng Shui and cooking books, as well as novels and information books related to the "Cultural Revolution".
Not long ago, a reporter came to the bookstore of the famous Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., searched through the Chinese literature bookshelf, and only saw a set of the English version of "A Dream of Red Mansions" published by the American Penguin Press. The version uses "The Story of the Stone" as the title). The staff of the bookstore told me that according to computer records, the bookstore had previously carried "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin" and "Journey to the West", but for some reason it was not renewed after the books were sold out. Since only a few professional bookstores sell English translations of China's four major classics, some readers can only order them online.
Among the four major classics, the one with the largest circulation is "Water Margin" translated by the American writer Pearl Buck. The English translation title is "We Are Brothers Within the Four Seas". In 1938, Pearl Buck's acceptance speech at the Nobel Prize award ceremony was titled "Chinese Novel". She said: Chinese classical novels have the same irresistible charm as novels from any country in the world. "A truly well-educated person should know such classics as "A Dream of Red Mansions" and "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms." "Brothers Within" was on the best-seller list in the United States at the time, but there were still many errors in the translation. For example, the translation of book titles was criticized by Lu Xun. The nicknames of the 108 generals are often literal. For example, the flower monk Lu Zhishen is translated as "Priest Hwa" (Flower Priest), and the dominatrix Sun Erniang is translated as "Night Ogre" (night monster).
In contrast, the Monkey King, who has great kung fu and a sense of humor, is more attractive to ordinary Americans. Many Americans know the story of "Journey to the West". The English translation is "Monkey", and other translations include "The Monkey King", "The Adventures of the Monkey", "The Monkey's Journey", "The Man and the Pig", "The Adventures of Gods and Demons", etc. Unfortunately, after "Journey to the West" was translated into English, many hidden allusions and morals were lost, making the book lose most of its color. "Journey to the West" translated by Jenard and published by China Foreign Languages ??Publishing House is very popular in various translations, but some American readers have reported that the printing quality and binding technology of the book seem to need to be improved.
As for "A Dream of Red Mansions", which ranks first among the four great classics, it is mentioned in American high school and college world history textbooks as one of China's greatest novels. These textbooks often describe the decline of the Qing Dynasty by introducing "A Dream of Red Mansions". "A Dream of Red Mansions" is called China's "Romeo and Juliet" by some book critics in the United States. Generally speaking, Americans pay less attention to the concept of clan. However, the intricate family relationships and numerous character names in "A Dream of Red Mansions" make American readers confused.
For American teenage video game fans, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is not very unfamiliar. A few years ago, a video game called "Dynasty Warriors II" became very popular among American teenagers. "Dynasty Warriors II" is adapted from the storyline of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The names of people and places are all from the original work, and there are Chinese Pinyin buttons for "Martial Arts" on the control panel, but the language and music have been "fully Westernized". However, "Dynasty Warriors II" still led many American teenagers to "find their roots" in the original work. This is how Rich Chakang, a young man living in New York, found "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by "searching for pictures" and was deeply attracted by the original work. He told reporters that he truly understood what loyalty, heroism and military strategy are from the book, and understood from a historical perspective the Chinese people's principle that "if we unite for a long time, we will divide, and if we divide for a long time, we will unite."
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (literally translated as "Three Kingdoms" in English), translated by Moss Roberts and published by China Foreign Languages ??Publishing House, is more popular in various versions, and the title of another translation is translated as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
If you are interested, you can read the original text.