| Lin Yutang,the only Chinese writer nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 1920 s and 1930 s,enjoyed a high reputation among American readers.The Importance of Living is one of Lin Yutang’s masterpieces,the first book written by Lin Yutang after he moved to the United States.It is also another successful English work after his My Country and My People.Upon its publication,the book was selected as the special recommendation book by “the US monthly reading club” in December 1937.It also became the best seller in the United States in 1938,topping the list of best sellers in the United States for 52 weeks.In contrast,the English versions of many classical Chinese literary works have not been widely recognized and accepted by foreign readers in the Chinese culture going-global campaign.Therefore,it is particularly important to dig into the subjective and objective factors leading to the popularity of The Importance of Living.In recent years,drawing on sociological theories to solve translation problems has become one of the research hotspots in translation studies.More and more scholars are turning to sociological theories to solve those problems that have not been solved in the past.Among all the sociological theories,Bourdieu’s sociology that takes into account social as well as individual factors is widely used by translation scholars.Bourdieu forms a complete social system by combining individual factors with social factors.His theory has three core concepts: Field,Habitus and Capital.Bourdieu puts forward a brief formula for the analysis of these three notions: [(habitus)(capital)] + field =Practice,which is also known as the theory of social practice.By regarding translation as a social practice,actively exploring the social dimension of translation,and exploring the choices the translators make in the process of translation influenced by some social factors and analyzing the internal relations between the translator’s translation activities and social conditions as well as social changes,we can truly interpret a particular work of a particular era.Therefore,based on Bourdieu’s sociological theory,this thesis analyses the acceptance of The Importance of Living in the United States from the perspectives offield and capital,explores the deep-seated reasons and main influencing factors for this work to win the favor of many readers in the United States.What’s more,this thesis analyses the translation strategies chosen in Lin Yutang’s The Importance of Living from the perspective of habitus,and analyses the underlying reasons behind Lin Yutang’s selection of translation materials and specific methods.Firstly,the thesis analyzes the dissemination of The Importance of Living in the United States from the perspective of field.After a thorough study of the economic,political and literary fields of the United States at that time,the thesis draws the conclusion that in the literary field,the theme and style of The Importance of Living accorded with the requirements of American literary field in the 1930 s and promoted the further development of American modernist literature and contributed to the emergence of postmodernist literature.What’s more,it satisfied the curiosity of Western readers who wanted to know more about China and Chinese wisdom at that time.In the political arena,the United States and China were in an alliance,which was conducive to the dissemination of Chinese works at that time.In the economic field,American people who had just come out of the Great Depression were depressed.The philosophy of Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu and carefree spirit involved in The Importance of Living also gave these readers spiritual comfort.Secondly,the thesis analyzes the dissemination of The Importance of Living in the US from the perspective of capital.On the one hand,Lin Yutang’s social capital originated from his friendship with Pearl Buck and her husband;on the other hand,Lin Yutang’s acquaintance with many celebrities in the US also gained him extensive reputation.Lin Yutang’s cultural capital originated from the influence of his family and years of overseas study.As a royalty king,Lin Yutang’s own economic capital was also unparalleled by translators or writers of the same period.Therefore,Lin Yutang’s accumulated capital laid him a unique position in the contemporary American literary field,which to some degree promoted the dissemination of The Importance of Living.Thirdly,the thesis analyzes the translation strategies of The Importance of Living from the perspective of habitus.As to his choice of translation material,Lin Yutang chose spiritual literature and the philosophy of Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu in his selection of translation materials.He selected works that coincided with his translationhabitus and the needs of the target readers.Regarding translation as intercultural communication,he combined translation with appropriate creation on the basis of being as faithful as possible to the original text so that he could not only ensure the quality of his works but also the sales.As far as translation strategies are concerned,Lin Yutang chose reader-oriented translation strategies to make the translation conform to the reading habits of the target readers as much as possible.Being a writer and translator and shouldering the special mission of introducing Chinese culture abroad,Lin Yutang translated some Classical Chinese works while writing,and conveyed Chinese wisdom successfully.Compared with the previous studies,which tend to be limited to texts themselves,the thesis goes beyond to study The Importance of Living from the perspective of Bourdieusian sociology.It not only confirms the value of the text itself,but also finds that the historical background and the accumulation of the author’s own capital are also indispensable to the popularity of The Importance of Living.However,owing to the limited time,the author didn’t manage to make a diachronic analysis of Lin’s translations,which is likely to conclude a more convincing conclusion.This leaves room for future researches. |
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