A Study Of English Translation Of Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction

Science fiction is the only literary genre that has not been included in traditional Chinese literature.Although it has been developing for more than 100 years in China,it is still not noticed by scholars,which makes few studies on science fiction and rare English translation studies on science fiction.Chinese science fiction has aroused attention of scholars both at home and abroad since the “Hugo Award for Best Story”and “Hugo Award for Short Stories” were awarded to The Three-Body Problem(2015)and Folding Beijing(2016)and other outstanding short science fictions,such as Balin(2016)and The Psychology Game(2017),were published in some famous American magazines.Examples of the present thesis are The Three-Body Problem(?????),Folding Beijing(??????)and Balin(????)translated by a Chinese American writer and translator,Ken Liu.The thesis analyzes the translation strategies and reasons for obtaining western readers'approval of three translations.It is expected to summarize strategies and methods of translating Chinese science fiction and also to provide some suggestions for further translation.The thesis will study Liu's three representative English translations from two aspects by using the method of comparative analysis.Firstly,based on Gideon Toury's translation norm theory,this thesis makes a descriptive study on three English translations and analyzes the characteristics of the source and the translated texts,and the translator's translation strategies.Secondly,it analyzes the reasons why these three fictions are accepted by English readers from four points including translation contents,translators,translating strategies and TT readers.The thesis argues that Ken Liu as the translator follows the cultural norms of the target language based on the original text,and flexibly uses strategies of addition,deletion and reorganization to make the translation concise and clear,and at same timehe preserves the original social cultural and historical framework of the source text.It also holds that the case of Liu's English translations is a typical successful example of introducing Chinese contemporary literary works into foreign countries.The three translations have received their popularity in English-spoken countries thanks to Ken Liu most,his American Chinese identity and his reputation in American literary circles,strong support from publishing houses and TT readers' warm comments on the internet.