A Study On The Korean Translation Of "Water Margin" With Medio-Translatology Method

The "Water Margin", as one of The Four Great Classical Novels and the first chapter novel written in the vernacular, has the most epic feature in Chinese Literature. It also makes a extremely far-reaching impact on the narrative literature of China and East Asia, which is translated into various versions in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Italian, etc, regarded as the classic works of Chinese ancient literature. Due to the connection between Korean Peninsula and the mainland of China, "Water Margin" has been introduced to the Korean Peninsula as early as in seventeenth Century, which was translated into Korean and widely spreaded in the folk, making a great effect on the Korean Ancient Chinese Literature such as "Tale Of Hong Kil Tong". So far, the Korean language version is still being translated and published, improving the Korean translation level of the "Water Margin".This paper will take the "Water Margin" Korean version, which was published in the twentieth Century, as the research object, summarizing the translation status of the "Water Margin" in South Korea and China. From the perspective of cultural studies and literary translation of Comparative Literature, using the theory of mediotranslatology, this paper will also analyse the cultural image of social cultural context and the Korean version, and study how the translator’s creative treason is expressed in the translated versions.This paper consists of five parts. The first part is the introduction, expounding the research purpose and significance, research scope and research methods. The second part is the research status of "Water Margin", introducing the history of the "Water Margin" flowing into, spreading, receiving, publishing and translating on the Korean peninsula, and the social cultural context of the creation and translation of the "Water Margin". The third part is the analysis of the translator’s translation methods and the mistranslation phenomenon appeared in the translation version. The fourth part is the analysis of the cultural imagery of the translation version of the "Water Margin", mainly analysing how the imagery of "Snow" and "flower wearing man" in the original works are described in translation version while the process of translation. The last part is a summary of the whole dissertation.Through the practice and application of the theoretical knowledge of Medio—translatology, this paper will make a comparative study of the Korean translation vesion of "Water Margin" in two different ethnic cultures between China and Korea. By analyzing the various phenomena and problems existing in the translated version, this text will understand the cultural differences between different ethnic groups. And further understand a series of cultural phenomena and their causes in the process of reception and dissemination of literary works, and promote the cultural exchange between China and Korea, to boost the development of literary translation practice and theoretical research.