Science Fiction Translation In1900—1919China:a Sociological Study

Science fiction, usually considered a branch of popular literature, is an indispensable part of the pop culture in the west. This genre has been translated into China since1900, and has played an important role in the Novel Revolution and the New Cultural Movement. However, the development of science fiction in China over the century is far from satisfactory. Former researchers generally holds that the first translators of science fiction should take a major part of the blame for the current situation, because they laid the didactic, educational, science-popularizing tone of science fictions such as making them much less attractive to the readers. However, it is hardly fair to judge them so simply from the standards of the modern world, and these translators should be studied within their own social context together with their works and other social factors.On the basis of the former study, this paper attempts to conduct the study of science fiction translation from Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological perspective, and thus throw light upon the ideological and cultural factors that are critical to the translation of this genre in the late Qing era from1900to1919, and thus help people have a more comprehensive understanding of the import of science fiction, the acceptance of the classic SF writers, and the interaction of all those social factors.This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter one introduces briefly the academic background of science fiction study and this research, the significance of this paper, methods of study and the structure of the thesis.Chapter two is literature review about previous studies on science fiction translation in China and previous researches on sociological translation studies.Chapter three provides the theoretical basis for the ongoing research, introducing Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological concepts:field, habitus and cultural capital.Then, in chapter four, which is the first part of the main body of this thesis, an analysis of the characteristics of1900-1919science fiction translation in Chia will be made in terms of authors, themes,translators and publishers.Chapter five is composed of four case studies:Liang Qichao as the avant-garde science fiction translator; the immense popularity of Jules Verne; the obsession with time/space exploration and new technologies, and the often too liberal ways of translation.Chapter six draws a conclusion to the whole paper, summarizes the major findings of this study, and also points out limitations of the study and suggestions for further research.In conclusion, the1900-1919science fiction translation in China is the representation of various social components under the influence of the interaction of different social fields and the transference between different kinds of social capitals. The influence of translation is in fact the influence of the economy and politics and society. Therefore, the future science fiction translation researcher should abandon the tradition of criticizing the early translators and strive toward new findings in this field.