| As one of most translated Chinese authors,Lu Xun is widely studied in terms of spread and reception of his works in the English world.Existing research on case studies mainly summarized characteristics of relevant translation activities,products as well as their dissemination and reception from a diachronic perspective and with a heavy focus on Lu’s short stories.In comparison,empirical investigations on real readers which include textual and extra-textual factors remain scarce.Reception is the final and essential stage in translation activities,and the analysis of readers’ feedback and composition is the prerequisite to promoting translations for the better effect.Current investigations on reception effect of Chinese literature abroad have employed literature review and surveys targeting western readers(which require subjects to compare different translations).However,the former failed to specify impacts of textual and extra-textual factors and the latter led to unconvincing outcomes as researchers handpicked evaluation units for small-scale non-authentic readers to judge.Given that,this paper collected feedback from real receivers of Chinese literature and analyzed how their backgrounds and reading motivations influence their selection and evaluation regarding translated literature,for which online questionnaire and a naturalist translation-comparison experiment were undertaken.As to Lu’s readers,follow-up interviews were conducted for the analysis of how cultural distance,means of spread,genres of works,and audiences’ backgrounds affect their impression of Lu and his works.To specify how translation and reader factors shape translation readers’ judgments and preferences,45 respondents were invited to compare and comment on five translations of "Medicine".All above-mentioned data were combined to categorize readers’ evaluation parameters and to reveal the operating mechanism of the reception process.Based on those primary data and literature review,this thesis used Lu as an example to analyze the reception of modern Chinese literature among the English readers from the perspective of “creative treason”.On the macro level,it illustrated the “creative treason”mechanism of target culture and target audiences;on the micro level,it analyzed factors actual readers take into account in choosing and rating translated literature.This paper comprises five parts.The foreword introduces reception studies of Lu,empirical reception studies of translated literature and the backdrop against which this research was undertaken.The first chapter pinpoints the research objective,innovations,difficulties and the skeleton of this thesis.The second chapter elaborates on key theoretical concepts and research procedures.The third chapter explicates data sources and discusses analysis results,with the first sector on the Lu’s reception in English-speaking countries and the second part on responses from English readers of other countries.In chapter four,45 readers’ feedback from comparison experiments is utilized to examine their preferences and evaluation criteria.Results show: 1.readers’ backgrounds,reading motivations,familiarities with originals affect their selections;2.the relative distance between readers,the original and the translation,their prior-knowledge,cultural backgrounds and attitudes toward the original work exert larger influences than reading motivations;3.overall,sample readers focus on the literariness of translations,treatment of cultural elements and appropriateness of expressions: literariness is measured by concrete indexes(sentence patterns,words and tenses)and abstract elements(whether the description is poetic and the language style is appropriate).Readers’ attitudes toward different treatments of cultural elements are shaped by their reading motivations,prior-knowledge,cultural attitudes and the type of cultural elements.Cultural elements unique to China are within their evaluation parameters and they overall expect translators not to adopt domestication.Expressions that mismatch characters’ identities,the background of the story,the theme of the original work,the reception environment of translations and the nature of translated literature are widely criticized.Readers prioritize literariness and the accurate conveyance of cultural and social information compared with the properness of expressions.The "Conclusion" part generalizes how Chinese literature is spread and received overseas and summarizes English readers’ assessment criteria and preferences.Moreover,limitations of this paper and the prospect of future research are pointed out. |
