The Change Of Women Images In Translations Of The Complete Classic Series Of Sherlock Holmes

Translation studies undertook a drastic shift in the 1970's, from linguistic- and source-oriented to cultural- and target-oriented. Rather than confined to the sphere of language, translation studies was 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. As one of the representatives of cultural school, Andre Lefevere put forward the rewriting theory and proposed patronage, ideology and poetics as the three controlling factors in translation. Since its inception, it has lent a fresh paradigm to translation studies and has been proved to be highly applicable by some translation theorists.The Complete Classic Series of Sherlock Holmes, the most famous work of Arthur Conan Doyle, became popular once it was translated and published in China. Since it was first translated in 1896, Sherlock Holmes' stories were translated so many times that it became one of the novels which had the most Chinese versions. Besides the vivid hero, Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle also depicted many strong-minded and independent women in the stories. However, in Chinese versions translated in different times, women images were translated into different women images. In versions translated in the Late Qing and early republic period, original women images changed into typical Chinese women images that were very different from the independent western women images, while in the versions translated after the foundation of the People's Republic of China, translated women images were much closer to the original women images. This is a unique phenomenon.This thesis chooses two typical versions in these two times, i.e., the collected edition published in 1916 and the edition published in 1981, and compares the differences of women images in the two versions. Based on Lefevere's rewriting theory, this thesis tries to find the reason for the change of women images. By analyzing different patronages, ideologies and poetics in the two different times, the thesis states that the translators of the two versions rewrote the original women images under the influence of the then patronage, ideology and poetics, thus resulting in the change of women images. In the end, the author points out that though compared with women images in the 1916 version, women images in the 1981 version are much closer to the original women images, it doesn't mean that they are equal to the original ones, which is the result of different cultures of western countries and China and needs further research.