A Case Study Of Selected Early English Translations Of Modern Chinese Fictions (1926-1952)

Disputes over who should do the translation, what should be translated and how feature prominently in translation scholars'discussion on how to"get Chinese literature walk toward the world"through translation. Despite their disagreements, scholars are unanimous in the pursuit of what-it-should-be. However, empirical science aims at revealing what-it-is.This thesis is a descriptive-explanatory study of five important early English translations of modern Chinese fictions which have either been totally neglected or not fully explored by scholars, with emphasis being placed on the global strategies the translation agents adopted and the effectiveness of each strategy.Chapter One looks at the target-oriented translation as represented by two cases-- Wang Chi-Chen's translation of Contemporary Chinese Stories and Village in August, translated by Evan King with an introduction by Edgar Snow. In both cases, the translation agents submitted to dominant values in the target culture, rewriting the source texts accordingly, which resulted in two acceptable but inadequate translations.Chapter Two demonstrates the source-oriented translation through an analysis of the global strategy adopted by Cze Ming-ting and Agnes Smedley when they brought Short Stories from China to English-speaking readers. Both in writing the introduction and in the translation process, the translation agents adhered to certain values in the source culture, challenging the dominant values in the target language in an overt manner, which resulted in an adequate but not acceptable translation. The lack of acceptability led to the failure to effectively convey the values of the source culture.Chapter Three Sheds light on the translator-oriented translation by analyzing Lin Yutang's translation of Widow Chuan. Although the translator was submissive to some of the values in both the source and the target language, his own value, which was in contradiction with both the source and the target values, played a key role in the translation process. The translation's adequacy and acceptability were undermined by this global strategy. Chapter Four gives us insight into the global strategy adopted by the editor and the translators of Living China, Modern Chinese Short Stories. The translation agents didn't take an either/or attitude in face of the incompatibilities between the source and target values. They adopted two sets of local strategies. One that was in accordance with the target value was manifested in the introduction, while the other that was in accordance with the source value but in contradiction with the target values was carried out in a covert manner. The thesis theorizes this global strategy as oppositional translation, with the term opposition, or oppositionality borrowed from Michel De Certeau, Ross Chambers, and Lara Cain, in their discussions of oppositional behavior in everyday life, oppositionality in narrative, and oppositional behavior in translation respectively. Opposition represents a different attitude toward power from resistance on the part of the weaker. The former involves submission to power so as to survive, and making use of power for one's own purposes, while the latter means overt challenges to the power in place. The thesis points out that the oppositional translation is a compromise between the two extremes implied by the source oriented translation and the target oriented translation, and the stances of submitting to, or resisting dominant values in the target language. In adopting this global strategy, the translator chooses to adhere to certain values of the target culture, and the translated text is disguised as acceptable in the new environment so as to allow the translated text a relatively easy passage into the target system, while conveying certain important features of the source text or the hidden agenda covertly. This global strategy, by preventing the text from being either totally assimilated into the target culture at the expense of the source culture's appeal or rejected by the target culture as the result of overt challenges to its dominant value, may well be a survival tactic for translating texts from the marginal culture into the dominant culture.The conclusion summarizes four global strategies as represented from the five cases and the effectiveness of each strategy. Then, it demonstrates the theoretical significance and the practical applications of this thesis. Apart from adding to translation history research through describing five important but not fully explored early English translations of modern Chinese fictions, this thesis brings the global strategies that escape binary classification into the picture, thus contributing to translation strategy research. Moreover, the thesis's emphasis on translators'four choices in face of heterogeneous values involved in translation activity serves as a complement to both Polysystem Theory which focuses on the constraints in the target culture governing the translation product, and Venuti's notions of foreignizing/domesticating translation which derive from the translator's stances of either submitting to or resisting prevailing values in the target language. The practical applications of this thesis are twofold. First, the thesis demonstrates readily available options, the agenda behind the choices that are made, and the response which translations meet, so the practitioners can knowingly make their own choices according to their own purposes, and the global strategies brought to light by this thesis will serve as new tools in practitioners'tool box. Second, the findings of this thesis will facilitate reflections on some of the views on how to better disseminate Chinese literature abroad through translation.