On Anna Holmwood’s Translation Of The Wuxia Culture Concepts In Legends Of The Condor Heroes I: A Hero Born

The publication of the English version of She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan has aroused people’s attention again to martial arts novels,and has also sparked academic discussions about the English versions of Jin Yong’s novels with specific cultural backgrounds.The wuxia culture,which consists of wu culture and xia culture,is the core content expressed in martial arts novels and also one of the hallmarks making martial arts novels different from other genre literatures.In the process of translating martial arts novels,translators can confront many wuxia culture defaults in English world,so the translator should adopt proper translation strategies to make readers more understandable and accept Chinese martial arts culture better.At present,there are just a few studies of the translation of the wuxia culture concepts in Anna Holmwood’s version.The research results are mainly concentrated on translation strategies of culture-loaded words,translator’s style,translation quality,translation mode and translation effects.In this study,She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan and the Legends of the Condor Heroes I: A Hero Born rendered by Holmwood are selected as the research objects.The author of this thesis will study the translation of the wuxia culture concepts with comprehensive application of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theory,Itamar Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory,and expectation horizon proposed by Hans Robert Jauss in the theory of reception aesthetics.This thesis aims to answer the following research questions:(1)What are the factors that influence Holmwood’s translation strategies?(2)What translation strategies does Holmwood adopt when translating the concepts of wuxia culture?(3)What are the advantages and disadvantages of Holmwood’s translation?After analysis,the author found that:(1)factors that influenced Holmwood’s translation strategies consisted of the characteristics of the martial arts fiction which belongs to genre literature,translator’s translation habitus,Asianization of western movies and Holmwood’s presupposition of reader’s expectation horizon;(2)the main translation strategies Holmwood used included defamiliarization,use of paratext,universalization,and reconstruction;(3)generally,the translation effects of the concepts of wuxia culture were good,but theshortcomings also existed.Holmwood retained the Chineseness of the kungfu terms,enriched the xia spirits and enhanced the readability.However,she also made it easy for readers to confuse Chinese xia with western chivalry and caused the images of heroines in Chinese wuxia culture invisible.Legends of the Condor Heroes I: A Hero Born is favored by readers in the English-speaking world.Its best-selling shows that martial arts novels are not only sought after by readers in China,but also can go abroad.This study aims to summarize the translation strategies chosen by foreign translator Holmwood for the translation of wuxia culture concepts and provide references and inspirations for the future translation of martial arts novels.It will not only make the westward journey of martial arts novels smoother,but also accelerate Chinese literature go out and even go in.