A Comparison Between Two English Versions Of Luotuo Xiangzi From Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

As an indigenous writer of world fame, Lao She is an outstanding representative of modern Chinese literature. His works are best known for humor and satire, his writing style wins universal praise for its vivid description and strong local color. Within nearly sixtiy years, most of Lao She's works have been rendered by various translators at home and abroad into numerous languages. The studies on the translation of Lao She's works, however, seem rather frail compared with the studies devoted to the writer himself, his works and the translating activities of his works. As the present paper notices, there are some but insufficient researches on the translated versions of Lao She's works. To promote the research in this field, the present thesis chooses two English versions of Luotuo Xiangzi, one of Lao She's representative works, for a comparative study.Set in Beijing in late 1920s, this novel depicts a rickshaw boy's rough life and tragic experience with a view to reveal the darkness of old China. Through the protagonist—Xiangzi's tragedy, the author accused the old society indignantly and expressed deep sympathy for the working people. This novel won great success at home and abroad. Until now there are almost 38 translated versions in the world.Taking Verschueren's adaptation theory as theoretical framework, this paper sets out to compare two English versions of Luotuo Xiangzi from contextual aspects. One is Rickshaw Boy translated by an American, Evan King published by Reynal&Hitchcock in New York in 1945, the other is Camel Xiangzi translated by a Chinese, Shi Xiaojing published by Foreign Languages Press in Beijing in 1981. This paper aims at introducing adaptation theory to translation studies of Luotuo Xiangzi as well as doing a meaningful exploration for the framework of adaptation theory in literary translation.At the beginning of the thesis the author expounds the previous studies on application of adaption theory to translation and research on English translations of Luotuo Xiangzi. Also the author makes a very specific study of several key concepts in Verschueren's adaptation theory with a focus on classification of context and points out the basic theory of the thesis. Then the author conducts a systematic and elaborative comparison and analysis between the two versions from various aspects of linguistic and extra-linguistic contexts (the former includes cohesion, intertextuality and sequencing, the latter mental, social, physical world). Through substantial evidence for the framework of dynamic adaptation theory, the author discusses the dynamic influence of contexts on the interpretation of language.Through comparative study of two versions of Luotuo Xiangzi, the author of this paper concludes that the success of these two versions lies in the fact that both translators succeed in adapting to different contexts although their translations differ with each one way or another. Literary translation is a tool of communication. In order to enhance translation effect and meet certain communicative needs, translators have to take all sorts of contexts into consideration when making choices and adaptation. In the process of translation, the target language chosen by the translators should adapt to the context of source language. At the same time the translators should assess the physical, social and mental world of TL readers correctly and build a new context with a consideration to characteristics of TL.Literary translation is a dynamic choice-making and adaptation process. As one party in communication, the translator has to adapt to the communicative and linguistic contexts of both ST and TT. At the same time, different structural objects also have to be reckoned with. From macro perspective, different translated versions arise to adapt to readers of different times or for different purposes. At micro level, the linguistic structures have to adapt to the ever-changing context. Meanwhile, different degrees of salience are involved in the choice-making and adaptation process. Conclusion of this thesis doesn't judge which version is better but sums up with some enlightenment shed by adaptation theory to literary translation. Hopefully the present study can offer a new perspective for translations studies of Lao She's works and bring some enlightenment to literary translation.