An Analysis Of Haiguan’s Chinese Version Of The Old Man And The Sea From The Perspective Of Power Discourse Theory

From 1990 s, there is a new turn in translation studies which is the power turn. Under the background that translation and power has become the heated topic, the thesis aims to study the Haiguan’s translation of The Old Man and the Sea during the particular period from 1949 to 1965 with descriptive approach from the perspective of Power Discourse Theory by Michel Foucault.The period starting from 1949 to 1965 is called the first seventeen years after the foundation of New China. During this period, a climax has been reached in the field of translation and plenty of translators and researchers emerge. However, Zhu Haiguan, a translator during that period of 17 years, is scarcely known to most people. Haiguan being the first recognized translator of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea in mainland China, his translation is permeated with a strong flavor of that period. However, in view of the researches in literary world of China, there are few reports about Haiguan and his works.Power is a huge net that exists everywhere at any time, which influences the translation activities. From the selection of the original texts, to the organization of the translators, then to the publication and reception of the translation, as well as in the process of translation including the choice of strategies, methods and the selection of words, the manipulation of power, more or less, is reflected. That is to say that almost every procedure, from the internal to the external, is controlled and limited by power. However, researches on power discourse theory in China are not very mature and case studies from the perspective of Power Discourse Theory are also rare. What’s more, papers adopting Power Discourse Theory for analyzing Haiguan’s version of The Old Man and the Sea have not been found yet.Therefore, this thesis attempts to divide translation procedures into two levels: the external and the internal on the basis of every element involved in the translation from the first step to the final completed work and its follow-up influence, and then analyzes the Haiguan’s version of The Old Man and the Sea from the perspective of Power Discourse Theory. The external procedures include the choice of the original texts, the supervision of the translators and the publication and acceptance of the translated texts, etc., while the internal procedures involve all the methods and strategies adopted by the translators, and the translation of culture-loaded terms which can vividly reflect the differences of cultures. The method of this thesis is the descriptive approach. After the objective and detailed description on the situation of Haiguan’s translation in China, the thesis intends to reveal the mighty and irresistible power and its manipulation of every translation procedure, which might provide a new angle of view on representing the historical context in which the translation of Haiguan was in.Overall, from the perspective of Power Discourse Theory and through the historical analysis to Haiguan’s translation, this thesis intends to prove that Michel Foucault’s Power Discourse Theory can be applied to the studies of literary translation, and meanwhile it aims to provide a much broader view for the studies of literary translation.