| Rewriting theory is a representative of the cultural change in western translation study circle. By the research of the three control factors over a translator's choice of strategies, the approach intends to provide a way to construct the theoretical system of translation studies and to guide the whole process of translation as well as translation-related activities. This study has greatly widened the theoretical scope of translation studies. Andre Lefevere promotes and contributes a lot to the study of translational rewriting theory. Based on a great deal of case study, Andre Lefevere's theory was formulated in 1990s and constructed a multi-dimensional framework for translation studies. He points out that the essence of translation is rewriting, and divides the control factors into three categories: ideology, poetics and patronage.This thesis is a case study of three Chinese translations of Looking Backward: 2000—1887 from the perspectives of Andre Lefevere's rewriting theory, with a purpose to find out how translation is influenced by the three control factors and how the translators may react to the three control factors in different times. the three selected translations are Timothy Richard's version published in 1894 (It had been serialized on the newspaper called A Review of The Times with the title of Huitou Kan Jilue in 1891), an anonymous translator's version (serialized on the magazine called Xiu Xiang Xiao Shuo–illustrated novels) in 1904, and Lin Tiandou and Zhang Zimou's version in 1963. The literature review introduces the original author and his works, discusses the research on the Chinese versions of Looking Backward: 2000—1887. Chapter four compares the differences among the three versions from the perspectives of ideology, poetics and patronage, and analyzes the reasons behind: From the perspective of ideology, influenced by the dominant political and cultural ideologies, the first two versions highlighted the translational purpose of saving China and enlightening the populace. Timothy Richard's version deliberately promoted the Christian culture and catered for Confucian norms of Chinese scholar-officials. The anonymous translator's version rewrote the original to meet Confucian norms and social customs and cultures. The third version highlighted the translational purpose of anti-imperialism and class struggle, and was a literal translation of the original. From the perspective of poetics, influenced by the dominant translation poetics, the language in the three versions went through a change from Wenyan (the classical Chinese) to the modern vernacular. Timothy Richard's version deleted greatly according to his translational purpose. And a translational preface was added by Timothy Richard to guide readers. The anonymous translator's version rewrote the original style to traditional Chinese Zhanghui style. The third version adopted literal translation. From the perspective of patronage, the three versions were subject to manipulation of three patrons'ideologies. The first two versions were manipulated by the ideology of saving China and enlightening the populace concerned respectively by the church patron and the private capital patron. The third version was manipulated by the ideology of anti-imperialism and class struggle concerned by the government patron.With the introduction and the application of Andre Lefevere's rewriting theory, we can launch the translation studies from a new perspective; deepen our understanding to the nature of translation and analyze the translation activity, and can testify the rationality and explanatory capability of the rewriting theory. But owing to the limited length of this thesis, the counter manipulation over the three manipulative factors from culture can't be included. Meanwhile, I should state that my analysis of the manipulations over the three selected Chinese versions is not profound enough, which is the deficiency of this study. |
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