Su Manshu’s Translation Of Selected Poems Of Byron: A Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

Su Manshu, one of the pioneers of translation in the late Qing Dynasty in China, hastranslated, in all, two political novels and several English poems, among which the poemswritten by Byron he translated are the best. His translation activities and his views ontranslation are an inseparable part in the modern Chinese translation field.A number of researches have been carried out on Su Manshu and his works.However, these researches mainly focus on the collection and compilation of Su’s worksand his literary writings. There are only a few articles describing and evaluating histranslation activities. The contributions of his translation to modern China, his views ontranslation, factors influencing his choice of source texts and translation strategies, etc. arenot sufficiently studied.The present study focuses on analyzing Su Manshu’s translation of Selected Poemsof Byron from the perspective of Andre Lefevere’s rewriting theory, aiming at acomprehensive understanding of the ideological, poetical and patronage factors thatinfluence the selection and production of his translations.The thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter1is a general introduction to the whole research.Chapter2focuses on the literature review of Andre Lefevere’s rewriting theory,expounding on the three main factors of rewriting theory, namely, ideology, poetics andpatronage.Chapter3mainly introduces the life experiences and literary career of both Byron,the writer, and Su Manshu, the translator.Chapter4analyzes Su Manshu’s translation of Selected Poems of Byron from theperspective of rewriting theory in detail, including a case study of Su Manshu’s translationof Byron’s The Isles of Greece.Chapter5draws a conclusion of the thesis.After the main body of this thesis, the bibliography and an appendix, including the original poem of The Isles of Greece and its translated versions by Su Manshu, ZhaLiangzheng, Ma Junwu, Hushi, Hu Huaichen and Liu Wuchi, are presented.