A Descriptive Study Of Mr. Ma And Son From The Perspective Of Polysystem Theory

Lao She enjoys wide popularity both at home and abroad for his humorous language and suitable themes with the contemporary times of his works, which show high degree of artistry and profound ideological contents. In his 20s, he went to London and stayed there for nearly 5 years teaching Chinese and literature. Mr. Ma and Son(《二马》), which was created based on his rich experiences of this period, is quite eye-catching for its unique story background: a pair of Chinese father and son trying to make a living in London in the early decades of the 20th century. This characteristic makes a natural terrace for comparing two cultures and its English translations may be a touchstone for cultural translation theories. Since its publication, there have appeared chronologically three English versions, while Chinese readers and scholars try to interpret and study it more from the cultural perspective.This thesis actually is a descriptive study of Julie Jimmerson's(an American translator) solutions to some translation phenomena in her translation of Mr. Ma and Son(《二马》)from the perspective of polysytem theory in the aim to verify or falsify some ideas of the theory. The writer first reviews by and large some previous studies on《二马》and its English versions, then introduces the main ideas of polysystem theory concisely. The lion share of the thesis can be divided into two chapters: the first chapter is dedicated to explaining the reasons for the selection of Mr. Ma and Son (《二马》)to be translated by utilizing the"cultural compatibility"theory of polysytem theory coupled with the relevant"preliminary norms"theory of Toury's Descriptive Translation Studies; the other chapter first fully describes the translator's solutions to three translation phenomena, i.e., speeches, culture-loaded words and metaphors, then analyses and explains the reasons for the translator's so doing from the perspective of"cultural position"theory of polysystem theory. At last, it predicts the acceptance and functions of the translation in the target culture based on the above description and explanation by using the research model of"description—explanation—prediction", which is advocated by Descriptive Translation Studies, with the original as the control sample and translation reference sample. The thesis proves that polysystem theory has a strong force in explaining the selection of works to be translated and the determination of translation strategies by putting translation in the context of culture.The theory opens the"black box"of human's mind to a certain degree when people are doing translation. Polysystem theory approaches to translation in a systemic, dynamic, descriptive, functional, target language-oriented way and contrasts sharply with the traditional translation studies called personal translation criticism by Even-Zohar, broadens the horizon of Translation Studies and starts the"cultural turn"in Translation Studies. Because of its emphases on historical and social factors, polysystem theory enhances the status of Translation Studies among the Cultural Studies and brings the translation from the peripheral position to the equivalent one with other texts (Bassnett,1998a:108;quoted and translated by Chang Nam Fung, 2001;my translation of Chang).There are two highlights in this thesis: 1, it may be claimed as the first trial for the author to study the English version of Mr. Ma and Son (《二马》)in China at present. So far, most Chinese translation scholars tend to study Chinese translations of foreign works; 2, studies on the textual-linguistic make-up of a single translation are not common in domestic academic circle and the study of translation strategy for"speeches"from the perspective of polysystem theory of this thesis adds new stuff to the data repertory of case study favored by Descriptive Translation Studies.