Wang Zuoliang's Translation Of Thunderstorm From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

Today, drama has become an indispensable part in the field of literature and art. The domestic translation has given much concern and discussion on the translation of novel and poetry. However, not the same concern with drama. As a bright pearl in literature and art, drama should be appreciated all over the world. So drama translation should not be ignored.Thunderstorm, the landmark work in the history of Chinese drama, is also the famous playwright Cao Yu's first drama and his masterpiece. As a required course in the high school and university, the drama made an epoch-making significance in the history of Chinese literature. Therefore, we need to introduce such outstanding work abroad. In recent years, this kind of research mostly focused on Thunderstorm itself, and very few were concerned about its English version.Translating is not only human activity, but also a purposeful activity. According to the Skopostheorie, the prime principle determines any translation process is the Skopos (purpose) of the overall translational action. The Skopos determines the translation methods and strategies that are to be employed in order to produce a functionally adequate target text. As a break away the traditional idea of equivalence and an important complement to translation theories, Skopostheorie thus opens up a new perspective for the translation practice and study. Although this theory was proposed in as early as 1980s, few drama translations have been discussed within the framework of Skopostheorie.A historical overview of Skopostheorie is made at first, in which the aspects, the three key rules and its merits are revealed. After an analysis of Leiyu and its English translation, the author elaborates on Wang's version from the aspects of Skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule. Then the author analyzes the purpose and strategies adopted by the translator in translating Thunderstorm with descriptive method employed by Skopostheorie. The analysis leads to the conclusion that Wang Zuoliang's translation of Thunderstorm is adequate, for it fulfills the intended purpose of introducing this masterpiece to the Westerners. And the study,in return, proves that Skopostheorie can really solve the problems and explain the phenomena in this translation practice, thus it has practically directive function.