On The Translation Of Liaozhai Zhiyi From The Perspective Of Bourdieu’s Sociology Theory

Liaozhai zhiyi,the classical work of Pu Songling,shows that the development of classical Chinese novels has reached the peak condition.Ever since the appearance of Tang Legends,Liaozhai zhiyi has been the most influential magical novel,describing strange tales among the immortals,ghosts,foxes,monsters and human beings and criticizing the darkness of the officialdom and the realistic society at that time(the early time of the Qing Dynasty).The work is abundant in its contents,involving the lives of ancient Chinese people and the characteristics of ancient Chinese culture.Not only is Liaozhai zhiyi well known in China,but also it is prevailing in foreign countries.Therefore,it is deeply favored by readers and has attracted considerable attention of the scholars at home and abroad.Since Liaozhai zhiyi was translated into Japanese in 1784,it has been translated into more than 20 languages,leading to the result that it becomes one of the classical Chinese works which have the most foreign languages.In 1842,it was introduced to the English world in a single-text form by Samuel Wells Williams and Karl Friedlich Gutzlaff respectively.It was not until in 1880 that the English version of Herbert Allen Giles was published by Thos.De la Rue & Co.,which was the first selection of its English versions as well.Afterwards,there have been numerous selections of the English versions of Liaozhai zhiyi,which have made great contribution to fostering mutual communications between Chinese people and people from the other parts of the world,promoting both Chinese literature and culture to go outward or go abroad.The English versions of John Minford’s and Huang Youyi’s are the latest two translations that were published based on today’s social background and greatly influenced by different cultures and ideologies.So far,no scholars have discussed these two translations from the perspective of sociology theory.This thesis attempts to explore the influence of social factors on translation activities from the perspective of this theory.As an intercultural social practice,translation has been marked with social factors and has distinct social attributes.Since the 1990 s,the study of translation from the theories of sociology has become one of the focus in western translation academia,such as Luhmann’s Theory of Social Systems and Latour’s Actor-Network Theory,and Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice among which Bourdieu’s sociology theory is the most widely applied to translation studies.The theory involves the field that an agent lies in,the capital he owns and the habitus that is formed in the social system.Especially,his compact combination between subjectivism and objectivism has made a breakthrough in antagonism between them.This thesis attempts to apply three core concepts of Bourdieu’s sociology theory,which consist of field,capital and habitus,to study Minford’s and Huang Youyi’s English versions of Liaozhai zhiyi from the macro level and micro level.Besides,this thesis will elaborate the reception of the two translations abroad,especially the Minford’s one.Then,the thesis hopes to come up with relevant strategies to direct the subsequent translations of Liaozhai zhiyi and other translations of the classical Chinese works and their overseas transmission.Most importantly,the thesis hopes to put forward suggestions on how to promote Chinese literature and culture to go abroad and strengthen the comprehensive understanding of China by overseas people.From the perspective of Bourdieu’s sociology theory,the thesis finds that translation activities take place in a specific social and cultural environment,based on which we should not only attach importance to the micro level of the study of language and text,but also we should face up to the social cultural study of translation from the macro level.The socio-translation studies are the combination of both.The micro-level translation strategies and methods are greatly influenced by translators’ personal habitus,which are formed in the specific fields and affected by the translators’ capitals.This theory has provided a new horizon for translation studies;and it is useful for scholars to consider translation problems from the social dimension.