A Comparative Study Of Two Chinese Versions Of Ivanhoe From The Perspective Of Deconstructionism

Deconstructionism is a theory born in France in the1960s. Originated in philosophy, it has permeated its influence on all aspects of social life such as literature, aesthetics, arts, etc. Deconstructionism enjoys a resolute philosophical stance and tried to decompose logocentrism thought that dominates western countries for two thousand years. Deconstructionism negates center and origin and radically subverts the fundamental roots of western philosophical tradition. Since the late1980s and the early1990s, deconstruction has made great impact on traditional translation and it has become more influential in western translation studies. Deconstructionists think that the tradition translation concept of "translation is paraphrasing" is inappropriate because the meaning of source text lies not in the source text itself, rather, it lies in the difference between source text and target text. They hold that the status of translator and target text is bigger than that of the author and source text. Besides, deconstructionists claim that all material things are symbolized and there is no original works at all. Any texts cannot exist without coping and rewriting the other texts. Therefore, the fundamental property of text is " intertextuality".Based on the above-mentioned concepts, the thesis makes a general review of the existing translation studies of Ivanhoe and analyzes the contrastive study of the two translation versions of Ivanhoe (Lin Shu’s version and Xiang Xingyao’s version) in light of such concepts as indeterminacy of meaning,"differance" caused by diachronic and synchronic reading,"the translator’s tasks","context","translator’s subjectivity" and so on interpreted in deconstructive translation theory. The purpose of the thesis is to explore difference of translation strategies of the two translators from translator’s subjectivity, translation purposes and historical context to find out the underlying reasons for the translators’diction and its influence upon the society and tries to supplement the existing research findings. It is found that the translation strategies the two translators use are reasonable under the guidance of deconstructive translation theory. It is those different translation versions that make the original meanings relive through differance. This thesis enriches the studies of Lin Shu, Lin Shu’s translation and the evaluation of Lin’s translation in traditional translation circle as well as the study of modern translator Xiang Xingyao and his translation studies. It also aims to probe into the underlying reasons of the popularity of Lin’s translation in the May4th Movement Period and provide a theoretical support for the difference, coexistence and complementarities of different translation versions and the translator’s subjective initiatives.The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter one is the introduction part. It mainly introduces the reason why the writer chooses deconstructionism and Ivanhoe as its theoretical background and corpus respectively. Therefore, Derrida, deconstructionism, Ivanhoe and its author are all mentioned and referred to in introduction part. Besides, research purposes, methodology and the thesis structure will be introduced. Chapter two briefly elucidates the literature review, i.e. the literature review of the translation studies of Ivanhoe and the application of deconstructionism into translation. Chapter three is to apply deconstructionist theory into translation where such sixes elements will be discussed as the definition of deconstructionism, the indeterminacy of meaning, differance, context and meaning, textual relationships, translator’s task and subjectivity. Chapter four is the brief introductions of the two translators Lin Shu, Xiang xingyao and their translated versions. In chapter five, a deconstructionist’study of the two translation versions of Ivanhoe will be talked about and extended from seven parts. The first part is to analyze the two versions from polysemy in light of indeterminacy of meaning; the second part is to analyze differance of the two translation versions from diachronic and synchronic study combing with specific examples to find out the reasons of the two translators’different translation strategies and evaluate the deficiencies and rationalities of the translation versions; the third part is to analyze the contextual interpretation of two translation versions; the fourth part expounded upon the textual complementarities of two translation versions and it is the "intertexuality" that leads to the rebirth of the original; the fifth part introduces translator’s tasks reflected through linguistic difference and cultural difference; the sixth part elucidates how the translators bring their subjectivity into full play in the selection of ST; Chapter6is the conclusion part in which justification for the diversity of translated versions will be elucidated and the limitation of the thesis be mentioned into the bargain. It is found out in this research that deconstructionism has a strong interpretive force and guidance for literary translation. This thesis justifies the choice of two translators in choosing their respective translation strategies and the original is brought into new life through different interpretations of translators. In addition, no one has made a research about different translation versions of Ivanhoe from the perspective of deconstructive translation study. In this case, this thesis tries to fill a vacancy in this domain.