The Translation And The Reception Of Alain Robbe-Grillet In China

The New Novel is an important French literary movement of the20th century, exerting a significant influence on the contemporary literary creation and criticism. Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922-2008), the leader of the New Novel, is a productive literary figure. From his first novel A Regicide in1949to A sentimental novel in2007, he has published more than twenty works. In1963, Alain Robbe-Grillet published For a new novel, the collection of his theoretical works, in which he believed that the traditional novel, represented by Balzac, was out of date. This collection of which is regarded as the manifesto of the New Novel. Robbe-Grillet is not only a distinguished writer, but also a famous filmmaker. His theoretical works, fictions and film creations reinforce each other and Alain Robbe-Grillet enjoyed a high reputation in literary circles in the1960s in France.In the early1960s, Alain Robbe-Grillet has already been introduced into China. Since reform and opening-up, Chinese translators give more importance to the translation of the New Novel. Translations and studies around the New Novel have flourished both in quantity and quality. In addition, its influence on the Chinese avant-garde literature is very important. At present, the monographs devoted to Alain Robbe-Grillet are few and the researchers incorporate him more often into the New Novel to conduct a comprehensive study. We have identified a dozen master’s thesis which study his works in terms of literature. And there are a few master’s thesis and doctor’s dissertations which study the translation and the reception of French writers, such as Simone de Beauvoir, Andre Malraux, etc. There are also some articles that investigate the translation and the reception of a novel, for example, The Lover by Marguerite Duras. However, no thesis focused on the translation and the reception of the leader of the New Novel. There are certainly many critical articles published in the magazines and newspapers, however, it seems that the translation and the reception are more or less neglected.This thesis is divided into five parts:In the introduction part, the author begins with an evaluation of Alain Robbe-Grillet among French writers of20th century and makes a statement of the selected object of study, the approach of research and its value. This part also introduces the structure of this thesis and the main content of each chapter.The first chapter tries to analyze chronologically and systematically the translations of Alain Robbe-Grillet and the studies on this writer in China. First of all, it is the historical process of the translation of Robbe-Grillet, which is divided into two periods:before the Cultural Revolution and after the reform and opening-up. Secondly, the author classifies the studies on Robbe-Grillet in China, including overall research, the studies devoted to his work, those about his theory and those for his writing techniques. Thirdly, the author analyzes the characteristics of these translations and studies.The second chapter refers to the reception of Alain Robbe-Grillet in China. Firstly, the author attempts to clarify the characteristics of the process of his reception and emphasis the great influence of ideology in the early period, in the other words, the evaluation was not objective. Secondly, the author conducts a study on the reasons of his reception from the perspective of history, society, culture and cinematic arts. Thirdly, it relates to the inevitable metamorphoses during his reception and tries to analyze its correlative factors such as the influence of the foreign literature as a whole, the Franco-Chinese cultural tradition, the contemporary social context in France and in China. Fourthly, it points out that the three voyages of Alain Robbe-Grillet in China have contributed to his reception in China.The third chapter aims to demonstrate the inspiration of Alain Robbe-Grillet on the Chinese avant-garde literature. Firstly, the author discusses his influence on the concept and writing techniques of our Chinese avant-garde literature. Secondly, based on the works of Yu Hua, the author seeks to find the traces of Robbe-Grillet in several aspects such as language, narrative attitude, image of characters, story and time.Based on the analyses above, we are able to draw the following four conclusions: firstly, the translation and the reception of Alain Robbe-Grillet dated to the early1960s and it has been about fifty years. Despite countless disapproval that his works had to face since their publications, they still show great vitality in the cultural context of China. Secondly, the process of translation, which includes research and studies, has largely contributed to the reception of Alain Robbe-Grillet in China. And it forms a virtuous circle between the translation and the reception. Thirdly, during the circulation of his work in China, the interpretation for his work is diverse and the metamorphoses have arisen. We can notice this in the first works of Chinese avant-garde writers. Fourthly, not only conceptually, but also in terms of writing techniques, Alain Robbe-Grillet has exerted a considerable influence on the Chinese avant-garde literature.In a word, this study does not seek to examine the process of translation on narrow sense, in the other words, the process of change of languages. We want to lead our thoughts on the dynamic process of translation and reception of Alain Robbe-Grillet in China. Through the analyses of its characteristics and reasons, we can better understand the conditions, under which the metamorphoses arise during the reception of foreign writers in the specific cultural context of China. On the methodological level, this study could serve as a reference for future studies on the translation and reception of foreign literature in China.