A Study On Two Versions Of The Kite Runner From The Perspective Of Toury’s Norms Theory

The Kite Runner was written by Afghanistan writer Khaled Hosseini. The authorwrote the novel in a straightforward narrative way and with simple words to describethe striking and dramatic plot. The novel has received a good reputation in countriesand regions all over the world. In recent years, there have been altogether two Chineseversions of its translation. One is simplified "追风筝的人" translated by Li Jihongfrom the Mainland and the other is traditional Chinese "追风筝的孩子" translated byLi Jingyi from Taiwan. They were both the champions in literary best-seller lists ofthe Mainland and Taiwan respectively in2006, being popular among readers in China.As the particular writing way and strong Afghan cultural flavor included in the novelhave been accepted by the target readers smoothly, the translation norms which thetwo translators follow are worth being explored and researched.Israel scholar Gideon Toury systematically put forward theory of translationnorms for the first time, which focuses on effects and influences of target culture ontranslation activities and translation products and promotes cultural turn of translationresearches. Toury’s theory provides wider and more objective perspective forsubsequent translation researches and makes great contributions to descriptivetranslation study. Taking Toury’s theory of translation norms as the theoreticalframework, this thesis chooses the two Chinese versions of The Kite Runner tocomparatively analyze the functions of translation norms in the process of translatingand discusses how Toury’s norms theory embody and influence in the translation andprocess of translation. According to Toury’s classification of translation norms, thethesis analyzes the whole process of translating of the two translators from theperspective of preliminary norms, initial norms and operational norms. Throughanalyzing, it has been found that different translation norms govern choices of the twotranslators at different stages of translating. From the choice of works, decision ofmacro translation strategies to choice of specific translation skills at the micro leveland so on, the two translators are influenced and restricted by translation norms. Translating is a process of choosing. Translators need to keep balancing influence ofboth source culture and target culture to achieve their aims of translating. This thesisprovides supplement to the descriptive researches on translations of The Kite Runnerand it is hoped that this thesis can illustrate and reflect Toury’s theory of translationnorms in practice to a certain degree.