Lin Shu’s Translated Poetics And Its Influence On The Target Language From The Perspective Of Lefervere’s Poetics Theory

Since the cultural turn in the 1970s, Andre Lefervere has put forward Manipulation Theory which provides a new perspective for translation studies. He proposes that Manipulation Theory consists of three factors, namely, ideology, poetics and patronage, which mainly pay much attention to the cultural factors of extra literary texts. However, ideology and patronage have been frequently addressed in many current researches while poetics is less dealt with. According to Lefervere. in the translation process the translator is inevitably manipulated by both the dominant poetics and his own individual poetics. No matter what kind of poetics prevails, its influences on translation will be reflected in his translated text, which offers a theoretical basis to evaluate the translator’s works and translation activities objectively.Lin Shu is a unique phenomenon in the Chinese literary history of translation, whose translation received overwhelming praise as well as severe criticism. The traditional source-oriented linguistic mode in translation community at that time made Lin’s "unfaithful" translation in violent controversy. Lefevere holds that a poetics is not absolute since it is historical variable. Based on the Lefervere’s poetics theory, the present thesis probes into the reasons for the successful creation of Lin’s translated poetics and provides an analysis of the impact of his translated poetics on target language from macro and micro levels. Based on the analysis above, the author finally comes to such a conclusion that Lin’s translated poetics is the result of dynamic integration and interaction between dominant poetics and Lin’s individual poetics, together with the profound influence Lin’s translated poetics made on modern literature, which contributes to the verity and objectivity for the evaluation of Lin’s works and comprehension of the impact of translated poetics.Besides, the results of the present research indirectly demonstrate the case when translated poetics occupies the primary position from the peripheral poetics in the literary hierarchy system, which is consistent with Even-Zohar’s Polysystem. It is hoped that the relationship between dominant poetics and translator’s individual poetics can be understood dialectically in the purpose of promoting a comprehensive understanding of Lefevere’s poetics theory and more attention to be paid to the influence of translated poetics on target language.The thesis includes six chapters. Chapter One presents a brief introduction to the whole thesis. Chapter Two reviews the researches concerning Lin Shu and Lefervere’s theory. Chapter Three contributes to the theoretical framework of the present thesis. Chapter Four is the focus on a detailed analysis of interaction between dominant poetics and Lin’s individual poetics. Chapter Five offers the explanation of the influence of Lin’s translated poetics on target language. The last chapter. Chapter Six covers the conclusion of the thesis, major findings, limitations and suggestions for further research.