An Analysis From The Cultural Perspective Of Moment In Peking Under Lefvere's Manipulation Theory

The scholars of translation studies mainly agree with the point of view that the purpose of translation research is for practicing translation theory and intend to make a regulated conclusion for the translated works. However, overvalue of translation practice will lead to ignorance towards the exploration of cultural historical value which is hidden behind the translation. Descriptive Translation Studies is a subject which can explain translation practice and analyze the translated works by observation, description and organization. The target of these studies is to find what happens in the course of translation practice and focus on the analysis of the fundamental factors that will influence translation practice such as the choice of translation, strategy, the form of thought and this final revision of the works.In the 1990s, the Descriptive Translation Studies research academic scope was enlarged to a deeper field which was orientated by culture. Among the scholars, Andre Lefevere put forward his Manipulation Theory which was distinctive and based on its large-scale practice. Lefevere believed that the influence made by targeted language and culture is undoubted. Translation was not only restricted by linguistic factors but also restrained by a series of non-linguistic factors which had important effects. He pointed out the components of Manipulation Theory, Ideology, Poetics, and Patronage. The Manipulation School claims that translation is always affected by the target ideology and poetics. The patronage manipulates the ideology and the professional controls the poetics. The theory contemplates translation phenomenon under historical and cultural contexts, which enables people to shift from a source-oriented to a target-oriented focus.Lin Yvtang's Moment in Peking was originally written in English between September 1938 and September 1939 when he stayed in France. In 1940, the work was published successfully and was given much attention from the academy. This work depicted the political and social upheavals happening in China at the time. The novel started with the Boxer Rebellion in 1901 and ended with the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. It also gave the description of the ordinary people's daily life—their thoughts especially. The profound Chinese culture, which was hidden in the book, opened a window for foreign readers to know the real conditions in China during that hard time. It was a panorama of China in that historical period.Moment in Peking was written in English but since Lin Yvtang is Chinese, there are unavoidably translational cultural phenomena in the book such as names, addresses, food, customs, dialects, idioms, couplets and some expressions. By employing the two constraining factors of Andre Lefevere's Manipulation Theory (ideology and patronage) and Descriptive Translation Studies, this thesis focuses on analysis. Lin Yvtang wrote this book in English with a ST-oriented (Source Text-oriented) translation rather than writing in Chinese and translating it into English with whatever strategy he preferred.This thesis is composed of three parts: an introduction, the main body and a conclusion. The introductory part deals with a literature review of Lin Yvtang and the current research condition in the Translation Studies of his masterpiece Moment in Peking at home and abroad and then discusses the significance and specification of this thesis.ChapterⅠunfolds Lefevere as the representative scholar of Manipulation Theory, his academic development process and introduces his constraining factors which includes ideology, poetics and patronage. For manipulation of ideology, the political ideology of social ideology and personal ideology are discussed. Poetics can be said to consist of two components: one is an inventory of literary devices, genres, motifs, prototypical characters and the other is a concept of what the role of literature is, or should be, in the social system as a whole. Patronage might be a person, a religious agency, political party, class, royal family, publish company, mass media, etc. It also introduces the universe of discourse which is part of Lefevere's translation theory.ChapterⅡilluminates the series of ST-oriented translation phenomena in Moment in Peking, Lin Yvtang wanted to explain the oriental Chinese citizens'daily life, accommodations and cultural folklore which happened in the first half of the 20th century to the western readers.ChapterⅢanalyzes why Lin Yvtang wrote Moment in Peking in English and used a ST-oriented strategy by employing ideology and patronage of Lefevere's Manipulation Theory, which was decided by the social ideology and his personal ideology. The manipulation of patronage consists of two parts. The first part is about the unequal relationship between the translator and the author, the second part is concerning American cultural imperialism, which includes two parts: Development of American cultural imperialism; America's unwillingness to introduce translations from foreign texts.ChapterⅣstates the readability and acceptability of Moment in Peking by American readers, which could be demonstrated by American patronage and the readers'trust in Lin Yvtang; Moment in Peking satisfies the American curiosity.The conclusion explains that Lin Yvtang composed this book as an English original so as to avoid this work's being rewritten, therefore can expose the foreign readers to the original Chinese culture. Also as an original work, it can easily escape the censorship of the patronage of American culture in order to get published timely in America. By reading the thesis, we can sense its specialties which are different from the others: Using Lefevere's Manipulation Theory to analyze Moment in Peking and make a full and systematical analysis of this book by employing a ST-oriented strategy. The viewpoints are unique and original, the profound effects and meaning by using the factors of Manipulation Theory to analyze Moment in Peking are clearly stated. Moment in Peking was favored by western readers, which was tightly associated with Lin Yutang's component motif and his double-identification. The process of his composition was also the course of Chinese culture translation to the western readers. As far as the book is concerned, the translator's literature composition was how he translated the culture. The two processes were combined actively and unified creatively. The oriental culture was properly understood by the westerners'perspective. Through this thesis, we can understand when we try to analyze a translated literary work, we might be restrained to one translation theory. However, with multiple perspectives to review the work, we can catch the main idea and absorb the cultural sources which are hidden behind the translated works.