A Study On The Translation Of Han Shan Poetry By Snyder-From The Perspective Of Lefevere's Theory Of Rewriting

Translation studies started the Culture Turn in the 1980's and since then translation studies has not been confined to the sphere of language. Rather, it has been put in a macroscopical context of culture, society and history, and thus the scope of translation studies has been extended, and new perspectives have been explored. During this process, multiple theories, including polysystem theory, Skopostheorie, post-colonialism and so on have emerged and have been introduced, among which Lefevere's theory of rewriting comes to the front. It's Lefevere's insight that all translation is rewriting, and is manipulated by poetics, ideology and patronage. This proposition gives great prominence to cultural elements and translator's subjectivity in translation, thus promoting the Culture Turn of translation studies. Meanwhile, rewriting theory is also efficacious in the research of translation practice and deepens our understanding of various translation phenomena, for it suggesting the method of researching from the perspectives of poetics, ideology and patronage, and providing convincing explanation to such questions as why the translator chooses such a source text, why he rewrites in this way or that way, why the translated text achieves such a position in the target culture.The translation of Han Shan's poems by Gary Snyder is a unique phenomenon in the history of translation. Firstly, Han Shan himself and his poetry never obtained high literary position in his homeland China; however, by the media of translation, they won much reputation in America. Han Shan became a spiritual idol for Beat Generation and Hippies, and his poems translated by Snyder got canonized in American literature. Secondly, Snyder's translation is not very faithful to the original, but exhibits some obvious characteristics of rewriting, which is actually a typical case of rewriting. In view of this, the present thesis, with Andre Lefevere's rewriting theory as the basis and Snyder's translation of Han Shan's poems as the object of study, attempts to examine the text-choice, process of text-production and acceptance of translation in the target culture from the perspective of manipulation exerted by poetics, ideology and patronage.The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter gives a brief introduction to the research background, the significance of the study, and the structure of the thesis. Chapter Two gives an account of Han Shan the poet, Han Shan's poems, Snyder the translator, and his translation. Chapter Three briefly expounds on Lefevere's rewriting theory, laying the theoretical basis of the thesis. Chapter Four, the body of the thesis, carries out a systematical and in-depth analysis of Snyder's translation in terms of rewriting theory. The author first of all points out that Han Shan's poetry translated by Snyder is characteristic of rewriting, which is embodied in two aspects: first, the very 24 poems selected by Snyder do not reflect the real and full profile of Han Shan's poems and thus create an image different from that of the real Han Shan and his poetry creation, which is a form of rewriting to a certain extent. Secondly, there exist obvious mistranslations in Snyder's translation, including deliberate errors in meaning reproduction and inconsistence with the original in style. Therefore, it is a typical case of rewriting which is due to the ideological, poetological and patronage manipulations. On the basis of this, the thesis analyzes the manipulation of the three factors on Snyder's translation from the angles of text-choice, process of text-production and acceptance of translation in target culture, and bears out that the rewriting of Han Shan's poetry and its popularity in America are attributed to the then dominant ideology in America, Beat Generation's rebellion against society, Snyder's thoughts about Zen Buddhism and nature, the poetic current of the then American literature, and other cultural and social factors. Furthermore, through the case study on the translation of Han Shan's poems, the author argues that the manipulations exerted by poetics, ideology and patronage are different in degree in the concrete translation process, and the integration and balancing of the three factors should be addressed in translation and translation studies. Chapter Five, the concluding part, makes a summary of the thesis and draws the conclusion that Snyder's translation of Han Shan's poems is largely a form of rewriting which is undertaken under the manipulation of poetics, ideology and patronage. The popularity of Han Shan's poems in American literary world in turn elevated its literary position in China, which reflects the integration and interpenetration of two cultures, and the close interaction between culture and translation.