A Study Of Drama Translation Strategies From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

With frequent cultural communications and exchanges in the world, drama translation study also tends to give prominence to a cultural perspective. Just as the translation of novels and poetry, drama translation not only concerns with the transformation from the source language to the target language, but also involves many non-linguistic factors. Lefevere, one of the representatives of the Manipulation School, puts forward that any translation is rewriting of source texts, which is manipulated by ideology, poetics and patronage. Translating activities are constrained by the historical and cultural backgrounds, and filled with clear purposes and social utility. Due to drama's dualistic nature of being a performing art and reading literature, the strategies of drama translation are never selected at random and differ from that of other literary works. On the basis of Lefevere's manipulation theory, this thesis makes an elementary study on its application in the translation of Pygmalion and points out that the translator should make clear the purpose of translation and apply relative strategies while translating dramatic text. Due to the special features of dramatic language, the translator is expected to attach great importance to the characters'individualized characterization, colloquialism and cultural factors. By conducting this research, the author wants to make her own efforts in the somewhat neglected translation field.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction of the research background, significance of the study, research questions and structure of the thesis. Chapter Two is literature review, providing a general overview of drama translation and researches on it both at home and abroad. The third chapter mainly discusses the manipulation theory, especially the three key elements of the theory, including ideology, poetics and patronage. Chapter Four is a case study based on Yang Xianyi's translation of Pygmalion, of which the first part gives a profile of the source text and its author, the second part makes an analysis of how manipulation influences drama translation, and the last part is a brief summary of drama translation strategies. The last chapter draws a conclusion of the whole thesis, which also points out the limitations of the present study and drama translation strategies to be further investigated.