A Translation Study On Cai Jun’s Translation Of Saving Fish From Drowning

Saving Fish from Drowning is the sixth work of the famous writer Amy Tan.The novel appeared on the New York Times bestseller list two weeks after its publication,and is one of the important works reflecting the transformation of Tan’s writing style.This book is introduced to Chinese readers with an untraditional translation way.Several translators,a few college students who understand English,perform a preliminary word-to-word translation firstly,then the famous suspense writer Cai Jun starts to rewrite and polish it.After Cai’s trans-creation,the source text has undergone tremendous changes in terms of length,content,themes,language style,and genre.Based on the rewriting theory put forward by André Lefevere,this thesis analyzes Cai Jun’s translation of Saving Fish from Drowning from three aspects,ideology,poetics and patronage.In addition,the thesis also discusses how the three elements of ideology,poetics and patronage have influenced the translation of Saving Fish from Drowning in China,and finally summarizes the impact of the three elements of rewriting theory on the rewriting of Saving Fish from Drowning.This thesis finds that ideology influences the selection of the source text and the subjectivity of the translator,making the translator adopt a translation strategy of domestication to make the target text consistent with the mainstream ideology of China.Poetics influences the selection of the source text,the adjustment of the length and structure,the literary genre and language style of the target text.The patrons not only influence the selection of the source text and the translator’s translation strategy,but also have a significant impact on the translator’s status.Among these three elements,ideology is the main factor affecting this translation activity.This thesis applies Lefevere’s rewriting theory to specific translation study,specifically analyzes how the three elements of rewriting theory have influenced Cai Jun’s trans-creation of Saving Fish from Drowning,and discusses the influence of ideology,poetics and patronage on translation practices.This research is conducive to the application research of rewriting theory in trans-creation mode and exploring the influence of non-textual factors on trans-creation.