A Study Of Chen Duxiu's Translation From The Perspective Of Bourdieu's Sociology

Chen Duxiu is a highly distinguished and legendary figure in the Chinese modern history.He is not only one of the pioneers of Chinese Revolution,but also a translator of historical significance in the modern history of Chinese translation.Translation was employed as a powerful weapon by Chen Duxiu in his exploration for a road to save the nation.As the founder and chief editor of New Youth,he organized a group of prominent translators to translate and introduce foreign literature,making great contributions to the evolution of Chinese translated literature history.During the late Qing Dynasty and May Fourth period,literary translation was particularly prosperous and translation norms was changing rapidly.As an influential translator during this period,Chen Duxiu?s translation activity played an important role in the construction of a new translation discourse.However,previous monographs and papers put their research emphasis on Chen?s literary revolution and political activity,neglecting his translation practice and thoughts.And those that hold references to Chen?s translation are merely piles of historical material.Translator behavior is a kind of social behavior.The application of sociological approaches and concepts in translation studies can provide a fresh research perspective for the explanation of translator behavior.From the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu?s sociology,translation practice refers to an activity that translators carry habitus and all kinds of capital,struggle in the power field and then establish regularities under which the field of translation operates.This thesis intends to adopt Bourdieu?s three key concepts,“field”,“habitus” and “capital”,to investigate the literary,social and translation fields where Chen Duxiu carried out translation practice;explore his life experience and peculiar thoughts on language and western civilization;and analyze all sorts of capital he owned and accumulated.This study demonstrates that Chen have been in struggle in the translation field with accumulated capitals.With his position changing in the field,new habitus was developed and structured,revealing his shifts in the selection of source texts and target language as well as the change of his translation views,which enhanced the evolvement of translation field from late Qing Dynasty to a modern one.