Reinterpretation Of Lin Shu’s And Lu Xun’s Translations From The Perspective Of Translation Norm Theory

Ever since Gideon Toury put forward a systematic theory of translation norm in the1980s, translation norm theory has become the “absolutely essential concept” ofcontemporary translation studies. Toury takes a target-oriented perspective of descriptivetranslation studies and analyzes the relation between the source text and target text.Andrew Chesterman and Theo Hermans follow Toury and provide more detaileddivision of translation norms and theoretical framework. Translation norm theory is abreakthrough of traditional prescriptive translation studies and provides a powerful toolfor descriptive translation studies. Its objectiveness, neutrality, target-orientedness andcultural focus and other characteristics enable it to excel previous translation studies.Before the introduction of norm theory, Chinese translation studies developed fromphilological study to linguistic study which featured subjectivness and prescriptiveness.Norm theory provides a new theoretical framework and explanatory tool for Chinesetranslation studies and brings a new perspective to reinterpret existing translations.Late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China witnessed a high tide oftranslation. A great number of translations especially literary translations as well asmany famous translators appeared. As it was a period of thought evolution, translationsof this period were full of variety. Besides, translations of this period were researchsubject in the traditional perspective of Chinese translation studies. The reinterpretationof the translations of this period is a breakthrough in research method. Lin Shu and LuXun are famous translators of China, whose works represented the characteristics of theage. The thesis analyzes Lin Shu s and Lu Xun s translations from their historic andcultural backgrounds, with the finding that various translation phenomena of an age arethe conscious decisions of translator based on their socio-cultural backgrounds as wellas translation purposes. Based on the results, the thesis proves the advantages of normtheory and draws the conclusion that norm theory can expand the research scope, offernew interpretations for the existing translation phenomena, provide thoroughunderstanding for researchers and finally promote the development of translation studies.