A Study On Translation Process Based On Hawkes’ Translation Manuscripts And Notebooks Of The Story Of The Stone

General comparative translation studies based on original texts and target texts offer useful data on final translatorial decisions but somehow leave us in the dark on the process leading to these decisions and the underlying motivations.While a genetic approach to translation studies attempts to trace the process of the occurrence and evolution of translated texts from a multidimensional perspective.Genetic translations studies generally take translator’s manuscripts,drafts,correspondence between translators,authors and publishers,post-hoc accounts,interviews,and related archives as major research materials.They are indispensable resources for the investigation of the conditions,working practices,and identity of translators and the study of their interaction with other participants in the translation process.This thesis had a touch upon the genetic translation documents of Chinese great literary works to enhance the understanding of the genesis of a cultural communication process.Taking David Hawkes’ translation manuscripts and notebooks of The Story of the Stone as major research object is unique regarding the translator’s expertise,the literature work’s huge influence（in both languages）,the rich cultural contents,and the special poetics it involves.The research applies a comprehensive analytical framework in handling the manually collected data of the genetic traces in Hawkes’ manuscripts and notebooks.The results show that:（1）Hawkes has his unique working model as a creative and expertise translator features a full-scale preparation and a part of pre-translation,which is an advanced "problem-solving" process.This accords with the statistical result.（2）More of Hawkes’ revisions in his drafting phase are instant,focusing on the semantic level,and are mostly motivated by seeking the explicit,natural,and fluent expression that is concordant in terms of the poetics of language;（3）The motivations behind his revisions are manifold,mainly proceeded by his study of the original text and his mastering of the target language,as well as comments from co-translators,Chinese scholars,general readers,and publication editors.His translatorial decision is an ongoing balancing act fraught with competing forces pulling in different directions.The thesis concludes by underscoring the significance of thorough investigations into individual translator behavior and enhancement of genetic translation studies.