A Comparative Study On Three English Versions Of Sun Zi Bing Fa From The Perspective Of Polysystem Theory

This thesis makes a comparative study of English versions by Lin Wusun,Samuel B Griffith and Lionel Giles from the perspective of Polysystem theory,aiming to discover their fundamental features and examine why three translators adopt different translation strategies.Polysystem theory put forward by Itamar Even-Zohar opened a new avenue to research on translation study.It provided a macroscopic,diachronic,and descriptive perspective for translation and put translation within the cultural and literary systems in which it functions.The author finds that translated literature is under the influence of both the literature of the target polysystem and socio-cultural factors like ideology,power relations and poetics based on this theory.This thesis first makes a brief introduction to the original and three English versions respectively and analyzes their influences in English world.Next,a comparative study in terms of their translation of chapter titles,military terms,culture-loaded words and language style(including parallel structure,rhythm and rhetoric)is made to reveal the preference of adequacy and acceptability of the versions.The emphasis of this thesis is on the analysis of how the extra-textual factors including the position of translated literature within the polysystem,ideology,poetics,and patronage affect their translation practices.The result indicates that these factors have varying degrees of influence on translators' selection of works,translation strategy and style of writing.Owing to the mainstream poetics in Victorian times and the poetics of himself,Lionel Giles' scholarly version is rigorous and rhythmic.Because there was insufficient knowledge of guerrilla war after the Second World War and his concerns with Chinese classical military science,Griffith selected to translate the source of Mao Tse-Tung's military wisdom—Sun Zi Bing Fa.His version was mainly aimed at conveying the military thoughts so he adopted the strategy of domestication to facilitate the target readers.With the support of Foreign Language Press which takes on political and cultural mission,Lin's version is adequate and faithful to the original.The thesis reveals and describes a series of influencing factors behind the English translation of Sun Zi Bing Fa and clarifies the position of translated literature within the polysystem,ideology,poetics,and patronage.The status of translated literature,religious and philosophical thoughts and mainstream poetics of the age three translators live in are deeply explored according to historical records within a cultural context.Subjective factors such as translation purpose and translator's preference in stylistics that are often neglected in polysystem theory are also given a supplementary explanation.As China is promoting Chinese culture around the world,the thesis will help to understand the translation background of translated works that are successfully introduced to the West such as Sun Zi Bing Fa.Hopefully the discussion concerning why and how factors like ideology,poetics,and patronage influence translation practice can provide some enlightenment on the research on the cultural context of translation and further facilitate overseas dissemination of translated works of Chinese literature.