A Comparative Study Of The Two Translated English Versions Of Luotuo Xiangzi From The Eco-translatological Perspective

Professor Hu Gengshen of Tsinghua University introduced Darwin s “natural selection” and “survivalof the fittest” theory into the field of translation studies in2004, which provided the theoretical foundationfor the development of eco-translatology. Based on this, Professor Hu put forward the concept ofeco-translatology in2008. Eco-translatology can be regarded as an ecological approach to translationstudies or translation studies from an ecological perspective. According to eco-translatology, translation isdefined as a selection activity of the translator s adaptation to translational eco-environment. This theorybrings a new perspective into translation studies. Translational eco-environment involves the systems of thesource text, source language and the target language. Therefore, eco-translatology offers a new andcomprehensive interpretation to translation process, translation method, translation principle and evaluationstandard.Based on Hu Gengshen s eco-translatology theory, this paper makes a comparative analysis betweenthe two English versions of Luotuo Xiangzi, so as to provide a new perspective for the English translationof Luotuo Xiangzi. This novel is not only the milestone in Lao She s literary career, but regarded as thesummit of Chinese realism. The two English versions of this paper are Evan King s Rickshaw Boypublished in1945and Shi Xiaojing s Camel Xiangzi in1981. The previous studies about the two Englishversions are carried out either from the macro level or the micro level. However, this thesis, by applyingeco-translatology, provides a new angle for the research of English versions of Luotuo Xiangzi on both themacro level and micro level and further enriches the spread of Chinese literatures like Luotuo Xiangzi to thewestern readers.This thesis includes six chapters: chapter one mainly introduces the research background, researchsignificance and the structure of this thesis. Literature review is discussed in chapter two, in which theprevious studies on the English versions of Luotuo Xiangzi and eco-translatology are analyzed. Chapterthree is the theoretical framework. In this part, the author endeavors to explore the philosophical basis ofeco-trranslatology and the main concepts of the theory, such as translational eco-environment, translation asadaptation and selection and the three dimensional transformations. Next part is the research design inwhich the research questions, research methodology and data collection are presented. The core and bodyof this study is chapter five. In this chapter, the author first describes translational eco-environment of thetwo translators from the source language, the target language and the two translators when they do the translation. Then, the author analyzes the two translators selection based on their adaptation to their owneco-environment from three dimensions: linguistic, cultural and communicative dimension so as tocompare the English version with a higher degree of holistic adaption and selection. The last chapter is theconclusion, which deals with the major findings of the thesis: both of the two translators have differenttranslational eco-environment while translating; in the transformation of communicative dimension, both ofthe two translators make great adaption and selection, but in linguistic and cultural dimension, Evan King sadaption and selection are better than that of Shi Xiaojing. Therefore, in terms of language and culture,King s version possesses a higher degree of holistic adaption and selection. Besides, some limitations andsuggestions are mentioned for further studies in the last chapter.