On Zhou Zuoren's Translations Of Children's Literature From The Perspective Of Toury's Translation Norms Theory

Zhou Zuoren, Hu Shi and Lu Xun were regarded as three literary giants during the May 4th Period. As a renowned translator of children's literature, Zhou Zuoren's translation activity lasts fifty-one years in his eighty-two-year-long life. Not only is he a theorist in children's literature, but also he is a translator and writer. By applying Toury's Translation Norms theory, this paper analyzes Zhou Zuoren's translations of children's literature. It is found that there is an interaction between his translations and translation norms. For one thing, Zhou's translations are confined by mainstream translation norms. For another, his disobedience to norms reconstructs new norms as well.Toury's Translation Norms theory, which is a key concept in descriptive translation studies, is adopted by this paper as a theoretical foundation. It provides a new perspective to study Zhou Zuoren's translations of children's literature. Setting Zhou's translated works in the social and cultural contexts, this paper can explain them more deeply and comprehensively, and explore more crucial factors in the process of translation.According to the detailed discussions in this paper, some findings can be summarized as follows. Firstly, as to Zhou Zuoren's views on children's literature translation, the primary point is that children's literature should focus on the "children-centered" viewpoint in the matter of translation language, the selection of text, intended readers, translation methods and so forth.Secondly, Zhou Zuoren's views on children's literature translation reached its maturity from the Late Qing dynasty to the May 4th Period. On one hand, Zhou's translations are restrained by mainstream translation norms. He has to adjust the way of translation to the dominant norms so that his translated works can be accepted in the target culture. On the other hand, his disobedience to norms causes the failure of acceptance and reconstructs new norms as well. Therefore, it can be seen that in the transformation of Chinese culture and translation norms, Zhou's translations of children's literature embody the tension and contradiction between personal translation activities and translation norms. It also reflects the translator's obedience, adjustment and exploration to the mainstream translation norms. Zhou Zuoren's views on children's literature translation and contemporary translation norms are interacting and mutually complementary to each other.Thirdly, since there is some criticism of Toury's Translation Norms theory, it can be tested against Zhou's translations of children's literature as a case study. It is found that the subjectivity of translator in the process of translation is ignored. Besides, according to Toury's Translation Norms theory, it is not easy to find which norm is the most relevant. Based on different translation purposes and literary styles, the most relevant norm is varied.By applying Toury's Translation Norms theory, this paper sets Zhou Zuoren's translations of children's literature into the historical contexts so that translator's translation activities can be explained objectively and comprehensively. In addition, for few studies have been devoted to Zhou's contributions to children's literature translation, the present thesis will fill this glaring gap and make some supplements to a few questions with respect to Toury's Translation Norms theory.The present thesis consists of six parts. The first chapter is an introduction to research background, research method, research objectives and the significance of the research.The second chapter involves literature review and theoretical framework. This paper gives an introduction to Zhou Zuoren's translation activities of children's literature in details and then makes a survey of previous studies. Based on the literature review, research questions are pointed out. Then, Toury's Translation Norms theory is described including some criticism.The third chapter examines the transformation of translation norms from the Late Qing dynasty to the May 4th Period mainly in terms of translation purpose, translation strategy, translation language and the selection of text.The fourth chapter examines Zhou Zuoren's translations of children's literature in the Late Qing dynasty with Xia'nvnu and Anle Prince as case studies.The fifth chapter follows the examination of Zhou's translations of children's literature in the May 4th Period with The Emperor s New Clothes and The Little Match Girl as case studies.The last chapter is a conclusion including major findings, limitations of this paper and some suggestions for further studies.