A Case Study Of The Translation Of The Lost Daughter Of Happiness From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

Translation Studies are no longer confined to the linguistic level due to the cultural shift in the field.Rather,they explore the transformations between cultures,histories,politics,ideologies,literatures and so on.Lefevere holds that any kind of translation is rewriting.All rewriting,whatever its intentions are,reflects the manipulation of ideology and poetics to a certain degree,so as to serve a particular society.The rewriting theory suggests that the ideology,poetics,and patronage are the three controlling factors that influence the translation process.The Lost Daughter of Happiness is one of the representative works by famous contemporary Chinese-American writer Yan Geling.The novel depicts the life of the first generation of Chinese immigrant laborers in America.Translated by the American Sinologist Cathy Silber into English and published by the commercial publishing house Hyperion,the novel was successfully rated as one of the New York Times bestsellers.Although it is acclaimed by many well-known writers and critics,the comments made by the American audiences are quite different from and even contradicts those of Chinese readers in some respects,particularly in the interpretation of the protagonists.What are the reasons for this phenomenon? Is it related to rewriting? And what are the profound reasons behind rewriting?Through detailed comparative analysis of both the English and Chinese versions of the novel,this thesis employs rewriting theory to analyze the influencing factors on the translator in the translation process,aiming to find answers for the above questions.However,since the sponsor?s manipulation is not as prominent as the other two factors,and the information in that regard is extremely limited,it will not be accounted in great detail.Therefore,the thesis mainly involves two aspects.First,it discusses what influence domestic ideology and poetics exert on the translation process,including the choice of translation materials and translation strategies and methods.Second,it explores how the translator,under the influence of ideology and poetics,rewrites the original text either intentionally or unconsciously to reshape the leading characters and narrative modes.The author draws the following conclusions: the dominant ideology and poetics have profound influence on the translation process.Long-lasting notion of “strong West” against “weak East”,the lack of understanding of Buddhism in China,different manifestations of "prostitute" image in literature existing for thousands of years,target readers? expectation for mysterious "Orient" and reading habits and so on all promote Cathy Silber to reduce,add and adjust the story plots abundantly,which is why readers in the U.S.and in China share little similarity in the appreciation of the novel.Although the translated version is well received,it offers some enlightenment-in spite of the fact that translators play a key role in translation,they should try to present works to target reader without changing the key message.And in this way,Chinese culture can be better translated and introduced to the world.