Study On The Chapter-based Translated Novels Between 1840 And 1911

Though there are many researches on translated novels between 1840 and 1911, there lacks a systematic study on the chapter-based translated novels in this period. It is a unique literary form:on one hand, as translated works, it bridges the gap between Chinese and foreign literature; on the other hand, as the continuation of traditional Chinese chapter-based novels in both Ming and Qing Dynasties (Ming-Qing chapter-based novels), it inherits many of their features. Therefore, we can gain a better understanding on scholars of the time by grasping their conception of novel as well as the cultural mindset that foreshadowed their literary genius via the translated novels between 1840 and 1911. Since the novel projects the cultural mindset at the time, we can further our comprehension on the chapter-based translated novels within their social context. The construction of this framework provides the logic premise for this paper, which is divided into three parts.Chapter one provides a general survey of the chapter-based translated novels at first. Then, from the perspective of translators and readers through their interaction via public media, it tries to figure out the necessity and possibility of the relationship between the conception of novel during the period and translators’ choice of the chapter-based style to translate foreign novels.Chapter two studies the stylistic features of the chapter-based translated novels. Generally, traditional chapter-based novels have three basic characteristics:written in chapter with hui-mu, the voice of shuo-shu-ren and with many stylistic features of other literary forms. Also, comments and criticism in the novel is another characteristic of Ming-Qing chapter-based novels. However, the adaptation of new content to traditional forms means the possibility of changing. When it comes to the chapter-based translated novels, traditional stylistic features are gradually changing, especially for the third basic characteristic, which has almost disappeared in translated works. Therefore, the chapter tries to present the stylistic features of the chapter-based translated novels, such as the inheritance from the traditional novels and the subsumption from the foreign ones, and to understand the reasons to generate these changes at the same time.Chapter three concentrates on the linguistic features of the chapter-based translated novels. Linguistic features share similarity with stylistic features, that is to say, both of them inherits a lot from the tradition and manifests new features under the influence of foreign novels. What tells linguistic features from stylistic ones lies on the fact that the former is more closely connected with national culture while the latter is more static, thus providing us a path to appreciate the cultural mindset of the translators themselves, and the academia as a whole between 1840 and 1911. Only from this perspective can we affirm the coherence and consistency between the initiation of the effort to unite the parole and character in the late Qing Dynasty and the vernacular Chinese movement around 1919.