A Study Of Drama Translation From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

"Cultural turn" has broadened the horizon of translation studies, which distracts researchers’ attention from the text itself to the cultural elements beyond the text. As one of the most accomplished scholars of "cultural school", Andre Lefevere proposes rewriting theory, in which he points out that the three elements of patronage, ideology and poetics exert certain influence on translation process. Rewriting theory breaks the limitation of the traditional translation study and can be used to explain different translation activities.Chang Sheng Dian (《长生殿》),which is written by Hong Sheng-a well-known playwright in the Qing Dynasty, is one of the masterpieces in the history of classical Chinese drama, and bears rich cultural connotations. The Yangs’ translation, especially their contribution to Chinese-English translation activity, enjoys a high reputation in China. It is due to its great value of translation and introduction that the Yangs listed Chang Sheng Dian as one of the classic literary works that must be translated.This thesis takes the text Chang Sheng Dian translated by the Yangs as the study object to explore the influence of patronage, dominant ideology and poetics on the translator’s translation process by situating it into the historical cultural background of the middle1950s. The author finds that the Yangs’identity of a professional translator initiates the translation of Chang Sheng Dian. Meanwhile the patronage FLP manipulates the translation material in one way or another. In the translation process, the Yangs take a flexible handling of the descriptions related to feudal dross, rewrite the personal pronouns and transliterate character’s names, all of which reflect the influence of the dominant ideology of China at that time. The translation activity is also subjected to the manipulation of poetics. The Yangs make a rewriting of the translation of sex-related elements and taboo words under the influence of Chinese poetics. The influence of English poetics forces the translator to accordingly make adjustments to the titles, the names of historical figures, the syntactic differences and the translation of Jiju verses.Although the Yangs’translated works are known for their faithfulness, the research suggests that there is also a mass of "rewriting" in the ranslation. This thesis intends to testify the guidance function of rewriting theory to the translation activity of drama, to enrich the study of drama translation as well as to get a full understanding of the Yangs’translation activity.