The Analects’ Textual Travel In The English World

The Analects is a collection of sayings, discussions and deeds of Confucius, his disciples and his contemporaries, the content of which covers a wide scope of subjects, including politics, philosophy, literature, education and moral cultivation. As one of the classics of Confucianism, The Analects is continuously translated into different languages. Its translation, particularly its English translation, has become a cross-cultural bridge for foreigners to know about Chinese culture.Similarly, travel is also an important way for cultural transmission. It refers to the boundary-crossing experience of human beings from one place to another. Abstractly, travel can be viewed as a trans-lingual and cross-cultural activity. Translation is similar to travel in many ways, for it does not only involve the time and space displacement, but itself is also a cross-cultural communication. In this sense, translation can be considered as a textual travel from one cultural circumstance to another.Eric Leed simply divided travel into three parts:departure, passage and arrival. Edward Said proposed Traveling Theory in1983, in which theories are endowed with subjectivity and become the agent of travel. Theories travel in four stages, namely,"a point of origin","a distance transferred","a set of condition for acceptance or resistance" and "new uses, new position in a new time and space". This trajectory of travel can be found in George Steiner’s hermeneutic motion of translation. In Steiner’s point of view, every translation experiences four steps:trust, aggression, incorporation and compensation. Drawing on the essence of the three theories inspires the author to think that travel of texts corresponds to travel of theories. Travel of texts also follows three steps:departure, passage and arrival. To start with, translators’ selection of texts with a purpose marks the departure of textual travel. In the passage of travel, under the manipulation of translators, the text will undergo some linguistic and cultural transformations in order to be accepted in the receiving culture. When the text finally reaches a new place, it may be resisted or accepted by the new context. In the travel of texts, the vehicle of travel, undoubtedly, is translation and the translator assumes the role of "tour guide" who leads the texts from the native place to the receiving culture.Taking James Legge’s, Arthur Waley’s and Ku Hungming’s translations as representatives, this paper aims at elaborating on The Analects’travel to the English world within the theoretical framework mentioned above. This paper is divided into six parts. The first part offers a brief introduction to Confucius, The Analects and its English translations. The second part is theoretical framework. It introduces Leed’s "the three stages of travel", Said’s "Traveling Theory" and Steiner’s "four steps of translation". Based on these theories and a comparison between travel and translation, it analyses the process of travel of texts, the traveling media as well as the role the translator assumes in the travel. The third part is the departure of The Analects. Translators’selection of The Analects with a purpose marks the beginning of its textual travel. The fourth part is the passage of The Analects. It discusses the necessity of transformation of The Analects and what transformation it goes through on linguistic and cultural levels. The translators will take some strategies to manipulate the text for the purpose that The Analects can be better accepted by the West. The fifth part is the arrival of The Analects. When The Analects arrives, the image of Confucius has become slightly different from that in the native culture. Its English translations are accepted by English readers and influence some British and American scholars. The last part summaries the paper, points out its limitations and gives suggestions for further inquiry.