Studies On Translated Fictions In The Late Qing Dynasty From Descriptive Translation Perspective

Translation of fictions in the late Qing Dynasty is the first large-scale translation activity in the history of Chinese translation. The translation of fictions at that time is the evidence of literary and cultural communication between China and the West. Although in translation field, there are some research achievements about the translated fictions in this period, and some creative researches have also emerged, generally speaking, the cognition about it in number and quality is not complete. Up till now, few people have conducted the researches into the translation of fictions in this peculiar period of time from the perspective of the latest "Descriptive Translation Studies"(DTS). This thesis is believed to be among the first investigations devoted to ideology and translation norms of translation of fictions in the late Qing Dynasty in the light of descriptive translation studies. It is hoped to be helpful to the application of DTS to studies on translated fictions in this period. Dominated by Toury's theory of translation norms, this thesis takes advantage of descriptive translation study as the fundamental theory frame. Descriptive translation studies view translation activity in the late Qing Dynasty in the social culture context and certain political ideology. Since 1990s, scholars at home have introduced some theories and methods of western translation studies. But it is not complete or systematic enough, especially lacking application on it. It is an undoubted defect. Traditional translation studies are usually based on comparison of texts, putting emphasis on translational critics without the considerations of historical, explanatory and descriptive studies. This method cannot explain many macro-problems existing in translation and translating. In contrast, descriptive translation studies stress the function of translation in target culture and its operational process. The main task of DTS is to describe translation according to the presentation of translating and translation in our physical world. It is more complete than traditional prescriptive translation studies. Because of the particular history period, the phenomenon of manipulation is common in the translation of fictions in the late Qing Dynasty. The research from the perspective of descriptive translation studies can produce much new understanding about the manipulations of translation, such as addition and deletion, which were prevailing at that time. This method will help the research arrive at a profound, historical and cultural descriptive study about the translation activity. The more important is that we can prove the academic value of this new method through this case study. It will help translation study at home go further. This thesis mainly talks about four parts. Firstly, it introduces the scope and method of this research as well as current researches about this scope. And then the thesis discusses the initiation and the development of descriptive translation studies, especially putting emphasis on the introduction of translation forms. After this, the thesis comes to the survey of translated fictions in the late Qing Dynasty. The emphasis of this thesis is the application of DTS----the description of translation norms. The preliminary norms and operational norms of translated fictions in the late Qing Dynasty are analyzed here. To do this, we can get a better understanding of translation methods and their relationships with culture factors. At last, the thesis mentions some implications from the case study. Directed by descriptive translation studies, we can see that translators and their translating are restricted by the target culture. Translators have to manipulate their translated works in order to be accepted by readers. Therefore, from the respective of the target culture, equivalence between source text and translation is impossible. In addition, translations themselves have no "fixed"identities. So the evaluation of a translation should go along with adequate consideration of its social and historical context. Reevaluation is often necessary in different times. Only this way can we grant objective criticisms to translated works in history.