A Study On John S. Major's The Huainanzi:From The Perspective Of Toury's Operational Norms

The Huainanzi: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Government in Early Han China,which was translated by John S.Major et.al,is the first complete English version of the Chinese Taoist classic Huainanzi by Liu An.Ever since it was published,John S.Major's The Huainanzi has won high praise from western sinologists and boosted the study upon Liu An's Huainanzi in the West.Against the background of Chinese culture “going out” and for better development of the English translations of Chinese classics,it is of great value to explore the translation mechanism of John S.Major's The Huainanzi.The thesis adopts a documentary analysis as the main research method and the whole study is based on close analysis of existing relevant study materials.Under the guidance of Gideon Toury's operational norms,a careful analysis on the main translation strategy adopted in John S.Major's The Huainanzi has been conducted to reveal the operational norms that translators have followed in their translation,which aims at drawing some experience from overseas sinologists in terms of English translations of Chinese classics.The source text Huainanzi by Liu An is characterized by its intensive employment of metaphors,frequent quotations of myths and fables and combination of parallel prose and verse,which constitutes the textual features of Huainanzi and the typical translation difficulties in its translation.So as to reproduce the textual features of Liu An's Huainanzi and guarantee the communication of its meaning,para-texts are abundantly supplied by John S.Major et.al in The Huainanzi to provide further explanations for the main text.As a result,The Huainanzi is of strong features of “thick translation”.The thesis attempts to explore the regularities in translators' “thick translation” of the original texts and summarize the operational norms they followed in their “thick translation” of Huainanzi.The author believes that John S.Major et.al attach great importance to both the readability of the work and the faithfulness of the translation.The thick translation in John S.Major's The Huainanzi effectively assists them to complete the translation and introduction of Liu An's Huainanzi to the West.And in their translation,the translators have produced a relatively effective operational mode for the treatment of metaphors from Taoism and Chinese traditional culture,myths andfables,and the style of parallel prose and verse,which can be inspiring to the English translation of Chinese classics.