The Rewriting And Study Of Shui-hu Chuan In English World

Shui-hu Chuan, a masterpiece of Chinese classical novel, has been translated into many languages throughout the world, spreading widely and winning many achievements. From the perspectives of cross-cultural study and comparative literature, this paper deals with the translation and the study of Shui-hu Chuan in English world, summarizes their characteristics and approaches, and compares the study in English world with related domestic research in the hope of providing the oversea reference to Chinese study on Shui-hu Chuan and contributing some basic work to the exchange of Shui-hu Chuan’s study between China and foreign countries.Besides the introduction and conclusion, this paper consists of five parts:The first Chapter is devoted to the overview on the English versions of Shui-hu Chuan, and tries to make a further study on the rewriting in the versions of The Adventures of a Chinese Giant and Robbers and Soldiers. These two versions’rewritings abide by the principle of novel’s Unity and the mode of western Picaresque novel under the influence of western ideology and poetics with the main purpose of meeting the westerners’ reading anticipation.The second Chapter mainly discusses the study on the evolution of Shui-hu Chuan in English world, including the novel’s textualization, author and versions. The achievements of domestic scholars including Hushi, Luxun and Zheng Zhenduo on the novel’s evolution study had laid the solid foundation on evolution study in English world. Because the empirical first-hand materials are regretfully lacked, the scholars in English world suspend the study of the accurate author and the versions, and remain these issues in doubt. While by employing western criticism theory, some achievements with special western nature came into being, such as the Reciprocal Oral-Literary Transmission process of texutalization and the generating of multiple versions according to Ian watt’s theory.The third Chapter makes an analysis on the studies of Shui-hu Chuan’s characters in the English world respectively from the angles of gender perspective, moral judgment and social career. The study on Shui-hu Chuan’s women is both outstanding and far-reaching. In terms of morality, the views vary from person to person, some praising Liangshan heroes are righteous and noble, some criticizing they are sadists and misogynists, and others attempting to reconcile the two different moral values. Concerning the heroes’ social profession, the scholars in English world not only present the heroes’ specific careers, but also analyze the liangshan group’s composition as well as their insurgent nature.The fourth Chapter focuses on the studies of Shui-hu Chuan’s structures in English world from two aspects, the overall structure and the structure framed by recurrent plots. The study of Shui-hu Chuan’s structures is characteristic of the western academic world. Whether it is Pearl Buck’s "imitation of life" structure, or the episodic plots, they are both the interpretations proper to western narrative theories. After reflecting the rationality and the suitability of exerting western criticism on the Chinese classical novel Shui-hu Chuan, the scholars in English world get various achievements on Shui-hu Chuan’s structure.The fifth Chapter takes the English world’s studies on Jin Sheng-tan’s commentary on Shui-hu Chuan as the research object, including the translation and interpretation of Jin sheng-tan’s How to Read the Fifth Book of Genius, the function and effect of Jin’s commentary, as well as Jin’s commentary and the novel’s criticism. The scholars in the English world not only make a study Jin sheng-tan’s commentary on Shui-hu Chuan, but also trace its origin and explore its influence on later novel-writing and novel commentary, which, to a certain extent, contributes to the dialogue and communication between China’s poetics and western poetics by constructing the Chinese novel criticism theory and reconstructing the Chinese poetic discourse.The final part examines the theoretical perspectives, methods and misreading of Shui-hu Chuan study in the English world as well as the further study of this paper. By adopting the western critical theory and in constant reflecting the criticism method and the former research achievements, the studies on Shui-hu Chuan in English world constructs its own criticism traits and gets many achievements. There are also some misreadings in the intepretations on Shui-hu Chuan in English world, such as psychological description’s lack in characters, the criticism on episodic structure and C. T. Hsia’s misreading of Shui-hu Chuan’s cultural spirit. Since this paper mainly focuses on the study of Shui-hu Chuan’s rewriting, evolution, character, structure, and Jin Shengtan’s commentary, other studies on Shui-hu Chuan are set aside which need further analyzing in the future.The findings of Shui-hu Chuan in English world can provide some new perspectives and much reference to domestic studies on Shui-hu Chuan, helpfully spurring the discussion and exchange between Chinese and western scholars. Considering the great cultural strength hidden in the novel Shui-hu Chuan, the analysis and summary of the achievements on the studies of the novel in English world will not only be beneficial to further perceive the cultural connotation of the novel under the background of globalization, but also endow the spread of Chinese culture to the world with instructive significance.