On Six English Versions Of Taohuayuan Ji From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

Tao Yuanming is a great idyllist in the history of Chinese literature. He attained greatreverence for his charisma, poetry and prose. Taohuayuan Ji was composed by Tao Yuanmingin his later years, which depicts a rural arcadia where there is no oppression and there lives agroup of common people who came here to avoid tyranny. They are ingenuous andhardworking, leading a tranquil life in Taoyuan. Although Taoyuan is an imagined world it israther commendable that Tao Yuanming created such a utopia. It is a unique prototype in thehistory of Chinese literature and has profound influence upon later generations. With thepassage of time Tao‘s prose and poetry has been introduced into Japan, South Korea andWestern countries. Tao‘s poetry and prose has been translated into foreign languages. As forthe English versions of Taohuayuan Ji by famous translators, the number, as far as the authorknows, amounts to fifteen.Six English versions of Taohuayuan Ji which were translated in different periods bydifferent translators are the object in this paper. Based on Lefevere‘s manipulation theory asthe theoretical framework, this paper investigates mainly the translation of culture-loadedwords in six English versions from three aspects: ideology, poetics and patronage. Lifeexperience and social background of six translators are also taken into consideration in thispaper. After thorough investigation the author found that versions of Chinese translator YanXianyi, Fang Zhong and Tan Shilin are characterized by foreignization generally, whileversions of Lin Yutang, Glies and Hightower are characterized by domestication due to socialcultural factors, especially ideology and poetics. The author in this thesis ventures to makesome improvements for Lefevere‘s manipulation theory about patronage. That is, the highprofessional not only functions inside the manipulation system but at the same time they playthe role as patron, influencing the publication and the acceptance of the translated works. Besides, with the development of society Chinese translators‘self-consciousness of culturebegin to emerge in their translations. This thesis is a tentative research for translation study ofTao Yuanming and Taohuayuan Ji. The author hopes this thesis may enrich translation studyabout it and be valuable for future Chinese-English literature translation.