Translation As Rewriting In The Socio-Cultural Context

This paper examines translation as rewriting in the socio-cultural context. On the basis of the theories of Translation Studies scholars such as Bassnett and Lefevere, I have carried out a case study, namely, an examination of three Chinese translations of Gone with the Wind by Fu Donghua in 1940, by Dai Kan, Li Yeguang and Zhuang Yichuan in 1990 and a group of translators headed by Chen Liangting in the same year. I contend that the historical, social and cultural context in which a translation takes place is of vital importance to its evaluation.This paper is composed of six parts.The Introduction briefly introduces the basic objective and scope of research.Chapter One begins with reflections on the linguistic and literary approaches in translation in the light of the Cultural Turn in Translation Studies. Then, I present a brief review of Chinese literary translation, in an attempt to provide a general picture of the practices and theoretical development, which foregrounds the notions taken by translators, critics and scholars in the modern times. The last section is a critical review of the literary translation criticism and that of the Chinese translations of Gone with the Wind, in particular. Through the survey, I find that most critics fail to regard translation as rewriting in socio-cultural context, which leads to biased criticism of translationsChapter Two serves as the rationale of the whole paper. In the first two sections I go through the Cultural Turn in Translation Studies and its development, with focus on translation as rewriting and its theoretical basis, namely, the polysystem theory and Descriptive Translation Studies. Then in the third section, I review and analyze Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere's theory about translation as rewriting in the socio-cultural context, in which translators have no choice but to conform to the dominant ideology and poetics, submitting to the textual and conceptual grids of the target culture. The two scholars, to the best of my knowledge, represent the culture studies in translation and School of Manipulation. Under this theoretical framework, concepts such as historical significance of translation, multiple translations and the role of the translator are addressed. A critical review of the Cultural Turn is carried out. The fourth section reviews the Cultural Turn of Translation Studies in China. The fifth section discusses the feasibility and necessity of bringing Cultural Turn to the study of Gone with the Wind translations.Chapter Three and Chapter Four are a case study of three Chinese translations of Gone with the Wind. In Chapter Three, after a brief introduction of the novel and the three translations, the concept of grids proposed by Lefevere and other scholars is introduced. The following comparison and contrast are made on conceptual and textual level respectively. On the conceptual level, the translation strategies and the content are compared. Specific aspects such as the naming, female virtues, customs and social conditions are tackled as well. On the textual level, comparison and contrast in the general language style, literary devices and some specific aspects are made.Chapter Four analyzes the underlying reasons based on the findings in Chapter Three. The analysis mainly focuses on the historical, social and cultural context of the translations with an attempt to find what conceptual and textual grids each conforms to and why. The first section deals with the context of Fu Donghua's translation. The literary translation in the 1940s, the language development, domestication as the dominant translation strategy and the readership then are discussed. The second section deals with the context of the later two versions. The literary translation after the 1980s, the development of language, foreignization as the dominant translation strategy and the readership are addressed.Chapter Five is the conclusion. It is a restatement of the point that has been made in this paper, that is, translation is rewriting in the socio-cultural context, which should necessaril...