| The late Qing Dynasty is a historical crossroads where the Chinese literati had come into contact with western humanistic studies. As Liang Qichao rolled out the"Novel Reform", the gate was officially opened for the western literary works to flood into China. The present thesis focuses on the introduction and translation of Sherlock Holmes Stories under this circumstance.Notoriously, the translator's linguistic proficiency during this period was inadequate on average. It is far from a rarity that translators distorted original works according to their whim, let alone some of them could hardly understand the original works. Though translation works produced during this period were replete with distortion and incorrectness, their artistic influence should by no means be overlooked. In translating Holmes stories, Chinese writers and critics learned to appreciate western narrative skills, such as narrative time and narrative point of view, though in some cases their learning started with misunderstanding.Secondly, the detective story, as a newly introduced literary form, also inspired a number of Chinese writers. This thesis gave a look at the translation activities and writings of Cheng Xiaoqing and Sun Liaohong, two of the most outstanding writers in this field. However, due to its intrinsic difficulty and a lack of proper training for the writers, Chinese detective stories had declined after its heyday.Thirdly, besides bringing into Chinese literary system some textual innovations, Holmes stories had their socio-economic significance. As the novel rose to the center of Chinese literary system, and the traditional Imperial Examination (keju kaoshi) came to an end, numerous scholars rushed into the publishing industry. This emergence of a large number of literary professionals had soon invigorated Chinese mass media, and exerted an enormous impact on Chinese literary system. Since then, common readers'literary tastes had dominated the publishing market, and many translators and writers carried out their work solely for economic motives. Naturally, the popular detective story was a major literary form they relied on to make a living. In this way, the change of literary system and the translation of detective stories mirrored the structure and restructuring of social hierarchy. More important is the close relationship between detective stories and urban culture in China. The budding urban culture in China was developing rapidly as Holmes stories were translated into China. Holmes as a literary figure was a perfect example of Victorian English gentleman. As an expert in modern scientific disciplines, he has a scientific mind, and beholds reason above emotion. Sherlock Holmes took his adventures through the urban jungle. Following his steps, readers could have a glimpse of the modern society: telegraphs, telephones, train and so on; all are wonders to the readers at that time. In short, these translation stories, in an implicit way, were shaping people's idea of what a city is, and what their city should be. In this sense, translation of Holmes stories was both a translation of west urban culture into China, and also a translation of western reflections upon urban culture.To sum up, in historicizing the context in which Sherlock Holmes Stories was introduced and translated, the present thesis looks into its unique socio-historical and cultural values in the development of Chinese culture, and thus hopes to give a re-evaluation of translations during this period at large. |
