A Study On The Translation Of Nicknames In Shui Hu Zhuan From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

Nicknames are given by others on the basis of one’s appearance, character andstrength. To some extent, nicknames reflect the public’s comments on the obtainers. Insome literary works, they even can help to highlight the characters, which helpreaders better understand the figure in question. Nicknames in Shui Hu Zhuan aregood examples. Shui Hu Zhuan plays an extremely significant role in spreadingChinese culture, strengthening the cross-cultural communication and enhancing theinternational influence of Chinese culture. Owing to the changes of eras, culturaldifferences and religious diversities, it is believed to be a tough job to translatenicknames in the novel.Although the previous studies on nickname translation have already obtainedsome achievements, most of them focus on the translation of culture-loaded words,still short of the research in larger scope. Taking Shui Hu Zhuan as the researchsubject, the author tries to study its nickname translation with an overall view.Translation theorist André Lefevere holds that translation can not occur in a vacuum.It must be influenced by a series of internal and external factors, which can influencethe translators’ choice of translation strategies.The present thesis lays emphasis on the comparison of the two fully-translatedversions of Shui Hu Zhuan―Pearl S. Buck’s All Men Are Brothers and SidneyShapiro’s Outlaws of the Marsh from the perspective of Lefevere’s Rewriting Theory.Studies are made to analyze factors influencing their nickname translations. Bycomparing the two versions selected, the author discovers that the internal factors (thetranslator’s intention and individual knowledge) and external factors (ideology,poetics, readers and patronage) both have certain effects upon the two Englishversions of Shui Hu Zhuan.