On Yan Fu's Translation Criterion From The Perspective Of Skopostheory

The twentieth century has been viewed as "the Age of Translation", and the latter half of it might be characterized as a period that experiences a boom in translation theories, which provides many new perspectives for translation studies.Skopostheory, born in the mid-to-late 1970s, regards translational action as a purposeful action, believing that "Skopos rule" is the first principle for the translational action. Combined with the contemporary studies on reader's reaction, translator's subjectivity and the influence of the target culture on translational action, it endows the translator a lot of initiatives, dethrones the original text and the author, and pays much attention to the target reader's reaction in the target culture. Its "adequacy criterion" admits the existence of various kinds of translation as long as the translation is justified by its particular purpose and circumstances. Therefore, an interlinear version is very useful in comparative linguistic research; a word-for-word translation serves as a good aid to learning grammar of another language; learned translation is needed when one wants to study the different ways in which certain meaning are verbally expressed in different languages; and the shift of the function of the original text may also be justified. "Adequacy criterion", thus expanding the possibilities of translation, increases the range of possible translation strategies.Skopostheory, especially its "adequacy criterion" offers a new perspective for the studies on Yan Fu who puts forward Three-character Criterion---"faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance", but always violates it in his translational action. Yan Fu's inconsistency on Three-character Criterion arouses my great interest. Based on the studies of Skopostheory, Yan Fu's life, his translation works and his translational action, this dissertation is to find out the true translation criterion that Yan Fu conforms with practically. On one hand, it tends to prove that "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" is not Yan Fu's practical criterion by a close comparison between the original works and the translation works; on the other hand, it tries to put forward and testify the hypothesis that Yan Fu's translation criterion is "adequacy criterion" advocated by Skopostheory.Chapter One outlines the basics of Skopostheory, showing its development, its content, and its relation and overlap with some other theories. Especially, I will give a clear definition and connotation of its "adequacy criterion".Chapter Two concentrates on the historical and translational background for Yan Fu's translational action and classifies his translation works, leading to his purpose or "Skopos" of doing translation - "enlightening the people and saving the nation". Chapter Three focuses on the relationship between Yan Fu and his Three-character Criterion. With a definition and an explanation to "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance", I shall try to prove Yan Fu's inconsistency on Three-character Criterion mainly through a comparison between the source-texts and the target-texts.Chapter Four is the major and most important part in which I try to put forward that "adequacy criterion" is Yan Fu's translation criterion according to the above analysis. Taking Skopostheory as a theoretical base, I shall concentrate on Yan Fu's translational action exhibiting his translation criterion mostly such as his selection of the Western books for translation and his use of the translation policy of "expressing the gist", and the relationship between his Skopos and the social impact that his translation works bring to the society. My conclusion is that Yan Fu's translational action is decided by his Skopos of "enlightening the people and saving the nation". Therefore, what Yan Fu conforms with in his translational action is "adequacy criterion".