A Study On Descriptions Of Historical Events In Zhang Zhenyu’s E-C Translation Of Moment In Peking From The Perspective Of Lefevere’s Rewriting Theory

Translation has always been regarded as linguistic transfer in the traditional translation studies. Since 1970 s, post-modernism rose in the western academic circles accompanied by the proposal of the cultural studies and the cultural criticism, some scholars broke the barriers of purely linguistic study to the outer factors of linguistics. Andre Lefevere, as one of the representatives of Manipulation School, put forwards the concept of rewriting. He points out that translation is the most obvious way of rewriting. During the course of translation, the original work had been rewritten and manipulated by ideology, poetics and patronage of that time in a given way by different translators. They are three main factors influenced the choice of the original work and what translation strategies adopted by translator.This thesis intends to make a tentative study on Zhang Zhenyu?s Chinese translation work of Moment in Peking written by Lin Yutang in English according to Lefevere?s rewriting theory. This work was also regarded as a counterpart of Dream of Red Mansions. It contains complex interpersonal relationship. In addition to this, historical events are also the important descriptions in this novel from Boxer Rebellion to Sino-Japanese War. Historical events refer to sensitive political elements which are much more than other factors. Thus this study explores how the ideological, poetical factors and factor of patronage exert influences on the translation strategies adopted by translator. Except the dominant ideology, translator should also take those of the original work, the translation work and the target readers into consideration during the process of translation.This thesis consists of six chapters. The first part is the introduction of the thesis includes research background, research objectives and significance and the thesis structure. In the second chapter, researches on the original work Moment in Peking and its writer Lin Yutang, researches on the translation work Jing Hua Yan Yun and translator Zhang Zhenyu, studies on rewriting theory at home and abroad are stated. The third part introduces the theoretical framework of rewriting theory used in this study. The fourth part is the research procedure in which research questions were stated and the descriptions of the research methods. Then the data collection and analysis, the results and discussions come at last. The fifth part is the analyses on the translation work of Zhang Zhenyu. The conclusion of researching Zhang Zhenyu?s rewriting of historical events in Moment in Peking can be concluded that the translating strategy he mainly adopted is domestication. Based on the rewriting theory, social ideology, poetics and patronage are the three main factors which influenced translator?s rewriting process. The last part is the conclusion of the thesis. By analyzing some translated words, sentences or even sentences structures, the conclusion of the author is that ideology, poetics and patronage are all exerting great influences on the translator to some extent.