The Social Property Of The Translation Of The Deer And The Cauldron From The Perspective Of Poly System Theory

In the process of translating and introducing Chinese literatures to the westernworld, the swordsman novels have always been neglected as the special literatureform they qualified, only winning sporadic concerns from several translatorsoccasionally. Even though the several countable works which were lucky enough thatthey have aroused the interests of several translators and have been translated intoEnglish, yet they haven’t earned the expected applauses after marching westwards.According to the records, only four works of Mr. Louis Cha and one work ofMr. Gu Long have been translated into English among thousands of Chinese martialarts novels. However, none of the English translation versions of these great works,The Book and the Sword, Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, The Legend of theCondor Heroes and The Eleventh Son，has aroused great concern in the westernacademic circle or society. Only The Deer and the Cauldron, the English version ofLu Ding Ji acquired great attention in the western academic field.In view of this special phenomenon, the penman tries to probe into the socialproperty of the translation of The Deer and the Cauldron from the perspective of PolySystem Theory advocated by Even-Zohar.This thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction, andthe second chapter is the literature review. The third and the fourth chapters are thediscussions of the thesis, probing into the following questions: first, the factorsinfluencing Mr. Minford selecting Lu Ding Ji as the original work to translate; second, the strategies the translator took in the process of translation, and the analysis of theintentions and the effects of these strategies; third, the selection of the publishingpress and the package design of The Deer and the Cauldron in the process of workdistribution; fourth, the historical contributions of The Deer and the Cauldron; fifth,the social functions of The Deer and the Cauldron; sixth, the political values of TheDeer and the Cauldron. The fifth chapter is the conclusion of this thesis: first, Mr.Minford selecting Lu Ding Ji as the original work to translate is under the influencesof his personal preference, the Chinese culture this book contains, the Chinese Englishpolitical factors and the post-modernism literature conception of Europe; second, inthe process of translation, the translator took the strategies of literal translation,adaption, compiling supplementary information and deletion in view of Chineseculture promotion, the translator’s personal political standpoint and the salespromotion of The Deer and the Cauldron; third, in the process of distribution, thetranslator selected Oxford University Press, and designed the package of The Deerand the Cauldron according to the style of classical Chinese martial arts; fourth, TheDeer and the Cauldron contributes to introducing Chinese culture; fifth, The Deer andthe Cauldron is effective for promoting the globalization of Chinese kung-fu,protesting against euro-centralization, transferring the religious believes of thewesterners and providing model for the strategies of translating traditional Chinese works; sixth, The Deer and the Cauldron explains the reason why China shouldacquire liberation, and takes effect on anti-anthropology.