Holmes Into China-A Polysystemic View On The Translation Of Detective Stories In The Late Qing Dynasty

In the late Qing Dynasty, the position of novel was greatly elevated and many foreign novels were translated and introduced into China. Among them, the most translated and influential ones were detective stories. The most typical detective stories were the ones of Sherlock Holmes written by Arthur Conan Doyle, a British physician and novelist.This thesis first analyzes the causes of the elevation of the translation of foreign novels in the late Qing Dynasty. In order to enlighten and educate people, Liang Qichao and other pioneers advocated the educational functions of novels, especially foreign novels. It was natural for them to choose to translate and import detective stories, which were very fashionable in Europe and America then.Detective stories were a new genre of novel then, which has many similarities and dissimilarities with traditional Chinese "case stories". Its unique features, such as suspenses, delicate structures and plots, new scientific knowledge, as well as detectives with deep perception, acute observation and precise deduction, appealed immensely to Chinese readers.After that, the paper first analyzes the causes of translating detective stories, such as enlightening the people, learning from the west, remuneration and application of vernacular Chinese. Then, comments on some features of translated detective stories are made, which include omission, expansion, fabrication, domestication, classical Chinese, female images, copyrights and so on.In the end, the thesis, in line with the polysystemic theory and putting the translated detective stories in the Chinese literary polysystem, attempts to analyze this translation boom from dynamic and historic views and review it from its influences on Chinese literature and culture.It is concluded that in the late Qing Dynasty, translated detective stories have undergone, though for a very short period of time only, a process of moving from periphery to center, from non-canonized to canonized and from primary to secondary in Chinese literary system. The main reason lies in the fact that China was in a crisis and the existed literary polysystem couldn't shoulder the mission. In order to conform to the demands of social development and satisfy people's needs to learn from the west, there occurred this translation boom of detective stories.