A Comparative Study On The Two Chinese Versions Of The Happy Prince From The Perspective Of Lefevere’s Theory Of Poetics

At present, many scholars both in China and in western countries have adoptedAndré Lefevere’s manipulation theory to study on. Many of them focus on ideology,while the other important factor—poetics, has not been given enough attention. Poeticsconcerns about two components: one is the inventory of literary devices, genres, motifs,prototypical characters and situations, and symbols; the other is the concept of what roleliterature plays, or should play, in the social system as a whole. Manipulations of poeticson translation are mainly twofolds: one is manipulation on the text, that is, application oftranslation strategies and translation language; the other is manipulation beyond the text,and it is embodied in text selection, translation purposes, etc. The Happy Prince andOther Tales has been well-received since its publication in1888. It was written by OscarWilde, a famous English aesthetic writer, poet and dramatist. There exist several Chineseversions of The Happy Prince. Zhou Zuoren’s version is the first wenyan version, whileBa Jin’s version is the most popular baihua version. Thus, it is very meaningful to make acomparative study on these two versions.Based on the two Chinese versions of Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince and AndréLefevere’s theory of poetics, this thesis conducts an analysis from the twofolds ofmanipulations of poetics on translation. First, the thesis analyzes the two versions fromthe perspective of poetics’ manipulation on the text, of which, theme selection, translationpurposes, child-orientation and expective readership will be focused. As to translationpurposes, Zhou Zuoren proposed to save the nation, while Ba Jin aimed at accusing to thedark side of capitalism and promoting social reform. Zhou Zuoren did not focus onchild-orientation, while Ba Jin’s version did. Zhou Zuoren set his expective readers asintellectuals, while Ba Jin centred adults as well as children to be his readers. Second, thethesis makes an analysis from the perspective of poetics’ manipulation beyond the text, ofwhich, translation language and translation strategies will be discussed. The thesisexposes the evolution of poetics by changes of poetical elements of different times. Itthus illustrates that poetics is unstable and changeable and it has a manipulative influence in the process of literary translation.From the late Qing period to the1940s, functions of literary translation shiftedfrom saving the nation and inspiring the countrymen to denouncing the dark side ofcapitalism. Translation language chosen evolved from wenyan to baihua. This thesispoints out that translation activities are restrained by social-cultural factors, and thereexists a correlation between translation activities and poetics. Translators translate inconformity with dominant poetics. Text selection, translation purposes and translationstrategies are all influenced by poetics. Besides, elements that influence translationactivities are changing with time. The two versions were manipulated by poetics, thus,evolution of poetics can be figured out by analysis of elements of poetics. The thesisdiscusses how poetics manipulates literary translation process. It puts the two translatorsand the two translation products in wider social-cultural contexts. The author intends toput more attention to cultural research rather than linguistic research so as to enrich studyon Chinese versions of The Happy Prince.