A Comparative Study Of Two Chinese Versions Of Stray Birds—From The Perspective Of Polysystem Theory

This thesis focuses on two Chinese versions of Stray Birds, a collection of poems written by a famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. One Chinese version is produced by Zheng Zhenduo, a scholar of the early20th century; the other version is produced by Bai Kaiyuan, a modern translator. Zheng’s version has a number of Europeanized sentences, transitions and rhetorical devices; Bai’s version has more religion-related terms, a colloquial register and a vivid style. In this thesis, the author tries to explore the differences of their versions from the perspective of poly system theory proposed by an Israel scholar Itamar Even-Zohar. Hopefully, this thesis will provide proper strategies for comparative studies of translated works.The thesis is divided into five parts:the first chapter introduces the structure and significance of the thesis; the second chapter reviews the former studies of Tagore, Stray Birds and its Chinese translation as well as polysystem theory; in Chapter3, the author compares the differences of the two versions from the perspective of polysystem theory and explores the reasons behind them, i.e. the two versions’differences in the position of translated literature in the target literary polysystem, producer, repertoire, institution, consumer and market; in Chapter4, the author analyzes the two versions’differences in the translation of terms, linguistic features and styles, with examples illustrated; the last chapter summarizes the thesis and comes to the conclusion that in comparative studies of translated works, the translator’s experience, the translation aim, the target reader and the position of translated literature in the target literary polysystem will have a great impact on translation. In comparison of different versions of translation, these factors should be paid attention to.