On Cultural Filtering In Poetry Translation From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

In the 1980 s,the “cultural turn” put forward by Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere brought a new perspective to translation studies.As a theoretical foundation for the “cultural turn”,Lefevere's Rewriting Theory highlights the influence of ideology,poetics and patronage on translation.Translation is not only a conversion between two languages,but also a way of cultural exchange.In cultural communication,the source text is filtered through layers of the target culture,during which the content and form of the original are changed.According to relevant literature,existing research on cultural filtering in translation at home and abroad is limited,and some studies on the mechanism of cultural filtering lack theoretical framework and case analysis.In addition,few attempts have been made to investigate the mechanism of cultural filtering in poetry translation.Kenneth Rexroth's One Hundred Poems from the Chinese(1956)has been widely accepted by American readers and anthologized in college textbooks as well as important American poetry anthologies.However,previous studies on this book have been limited to Rexroth's translation methods.Little attention has been paid to the phenomenon of cultural filtering in his translation.In view of rich cultural elements in poetry,the study on cultural filtering in poetry translation is of great significance.Therefore,this study takes One Hundred Poems from the Chinese as a case study to explore filtering beyond the text and filtering in the text,and to figure out the possible influential factors from three important elements of Lefevere's Rewriting Theory and the effects of filtering on translation.This study is undertaken as follows.Focusing on the whole translation process of One Hundred Poems from the Chinese,the thesis discusses filtering beyond thetext and filtering in the text.Firstly,the author will discuss the types of poems that Rexroth chooses and filters,and explore the influence of ideology,poetics and patronage on filtering beyond the text.Secondly,the author will analyze filtering in terms of poetics and ideology during the actual translation process,and explore the influence of poetics and ideology on filtering in the text.After detailed analysis,this thesis has made the following findings.Filtering beyond the text is reflected in the selection of poems about communion with nature,interpersonal affection and personal emotion and filtering of poems about political aspirations and political setbacks.Filtering in the text manifests in terms of poetics and ideology.Filtering in terms of poetics occurs in the aspects of metrics,language style,narrative point of view and figure of speech;filtering in terms of ideology occurs in the aspects of political implication,religious information,ethics,ecological culture and material culture.In the whole process of translation,patronage,ideology and poetics of the target culture function as cultural filters,influencing the decision-making of the translator.As a result,the Chinese poems are Americanized and modernized and the emotion of the original is highlighted,so that the translation can easily resonate with the target readers and become more acceptable to them.This study helps to provide a deeper understanding of the mechanism of cultural filtering in poetry translation and shed light on translation practice of classical Chinese poetry.Furthermore,it may attract more research attention to Kenneth Rexroth's translation and serve as a reference for future research on cultural filtering from the perspective of Rewriting Theory.