A Study Of Greek Mythology Translation In The Period Of The Republic Of China

In the period of the Republic of China, the translation and study of Greek mythology had been fully carried out. At that time, the most influential translators would be Mao Dun, Zheng Zhenduo and Zhou Zuoren in the field of Greek mythology translation. As the pioneers of Greek mythology translation, they had achieved greatly in the fields of literary creation, translation and academic research. Their Greek mythology translation is right the focus of the paper.Since the New Culture Movement around the time of the May 4th Movement in1919, the Chinese intellectuals had begun to deeply reflect upon and be critical of the Chinese traditional literature and culture, while at the same time they had begun to absorb various ideas of the West. These intellectuals usually took up more than one identities: they not only created fictions, but also translated Greek myths and studied them. These intellectuals translated, studied Greek myths probably out of the interest,but mainly because they did these to get to know the literature and culture of the West, and then in turn with their spirit to reconstruct the Chinese culture through translating Greek myths.