Translation Of The Otherness And Construction Of The Self

Su Man-shu, is famous for his poems, novels and paintings during the later period of the Qing Dynasty and the earlier years of Republic of China. In fact, he is a distinguished poetry translator as well. He is a pioneer in modern Chinese poetry translation, by publishing the first anthology of translated poems entitled Affinities in Literature in 1908. In the following few years he published three anthologies in succession, which were Selected poems by Byron (1909), Voices of the Tides (1911), and Esoteric Essence of Chinese-English Poetry (1914). Such accomplishments were remarkable and no one could be equal to him then. According to Liu Wu-chi, the study on Su Man-shu has undergone three stages since his death. However, these researches focus mainly on his original writings. The few papers dealing with his poetry translation are mostly introductive in content and subjective in assessment.Translation is a decision-making process, norm-governed activity and Skopos-based action. It is always embedded in specific linguistic, social and cultural contexts, hence translation studies should not be isolated from the contexts in which it takes place. In this paper, the author intends to adopt a descriptive and explanatory method so as to explore Su Man-shu's motivation for poetry translation, his inclination for choice of texts to translate, the cultural factors influencing his adoption of translation strategy and its impact on society by placing his translation activities in a certain historical context.The whole thesis consists of five parts. The first part is the introduction. Chapter One explores the topic of translation and its definition in the given historical period of time to pave the way for the analysis of Su Man-shu's poetry translation. Chapter Two and Three explore Su Man-shu's lingo-stylistic domestication in poetry translation and its internalization and motives through the investigation of his poetry translation and writing.