A Comparative Study On Pearl S. Buck’s And Sidney Shapiro’s English Versions Of Shui Hu Zhuan From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

As one of the four classic masterpieces in China, Shui Hu Zhuan enjoys a high reputation both at home and abroad. Its story is well-known, and the108heroic images it has shaped are popular and often become the conversational topic. Shui Hu Zhuan has a high literary value. For hundreds of years, the domestic and international studies on it were unceasing. Up to now, Shui Hu Zhuan has been translated into many languages, and its translated versions are widely spread in the world. With the development of its translation, the images of108heroes are popular in the world.Shui Hu Zhuan plays an extremely significant role in spreading the Chinese culture, strengthening the cross-cultural communication, enhancing the cultural strength and the international influence of Chinese culture. Until now, there are totally four fully-translated versions. They are Pearl S. Buck’s All Men Are Brothers, Jackson J H’s Water Margin, Sidney Shapiro’s Outlaws of the Marsh, and John Dent-Young and Alex Dent-Young’s The Marshes of Mount Liang. These scholars use their pens to translate this masterpiece Shui Hu Zhuan, and introduce it to western countries.However, for such an important literary classic, although the research on its translation has already obtained some results, it still lacks the research in larger scope and stronger system. The issues such as ideology and power which may promote or restrict the cross-cultural communication have not been traced to their origins.Translation theorist Andre Lefevere holds that translation can not occur in a vacuum. It must be influenced by a series of interrelated factors which can be divided into intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors. The former refers to those professionals, including translators, critics and teachers, and the later refers to the power that can promote or hinder the literary translation. These factors affect the choice of translation approaches and strategies, which in turn impact the whole translated version.The present thesis lays emphasis on the comparison between Pearl S. Buck’s All Men Are Brothers and Sidney Shapiro’s Outlaws of the Marsh form the perspective of Lefevere’s manipulation theory. By comparing the two versions, the author finds out their differences at the levels of linguistics, culture and communication, and then makes further analysis on reasons leading to these discrepancies. According to the analysis, the author discovers that translator’s intention, preference of value, individual knowledge and ideology, poetics as well as patronage all have certain influence upon the two English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan.