A Case Study On Eileen Chang's Naked Earth From The Perspective Of Self-Orientalism

Eileen Chang is a unique female writer in Chinese history of literature. In the 1960 s, T. C. Hsia set the stage for studying Chang. From then on, the studies on her gained increasing attention. As a matter of fact, Chang's talent is not restricted to writing. She is a productive translator as well. Her translation works involve a wide range of subjects and are rich in content. Chi Di Zhi Lian is one of her master pieces. Meanwhile, it is translated into English by Eileen Chang herself, named Naked Earth. Analyzed carefully, the source and target texts are not in consistence in many ways. Thus, this thesis aims at deploring the special translation phenomena from quite different perspective.After a long history of development and evolution, Orientalism is explained systematically by Edward W. Said in Orientalism. Thus, Said is undoubtedly the most influential critics. He thinks that Orientalism is a way of the West controlling the East in essence. Meanwhile, Orientalism provides a new perspective for translation, and translation services as a tool of cultural hegemony. Influenced by Orientalism, some translators with oriental identity have a tendency to cater to Orientalism consciously or unconsciously, and sink into the dilemma of Self-orientalism.Using careful text analysis and descriptive method, this thesis hopes to combine Self-orientalism with the special translation phenomena in Naked Earth. From two aspects: the choice of translated text and the embodiment of �the Other� in translation, it is not difficult to find out that Eileen Chang shows sign of Self-orientalism in the process of translating Chi Di Zhi Lian.