From Cross-Cultural Manipulation To Cultural Harmonization

From 1842, when Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff introduced and translated Liaozhaizhiyi into the English world for the first time, to 2008, when Sidney L. Sondergard published the latest English version of Liaozhaizhiyi, many translators from different countries and with different professions took part in the translation of Liaozhaizhiyi into English and produced nearly 20 whole-book versions and 100 single-story translations. However, up to now, there is no systematic study of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi. This dissertation makes a systematic and objective descriptive study of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi, which can fill the gap in this field.With methods of descriptive translation studies, this dissertation describes objectively the"travel"of Liaozhaizhiyi in the English world and different characteristics of different English versions of Liaozhaizhiyi. The descriptive objects include all the choices made in the process of translating Liaozhaizhiyi into English and involved factors such as the historical and cultural contexts of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi, the purposes of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi, translation details of different English versions of Liaozhaizhiyi and the reception of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi by the English readers. The descriptive methods mainly include diachronic description and synchronic description. The former chiefly describes the English versions of Liaozhaizhiyi of different periods; while the latter mainly describes the English versions of Liaozhaizhiyi of the same period.The descriptive study reveals that the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi was historically contextualized and experienced a development from cross-cultural manipulation to cultural harmonization, which is also the development trend of translating the Chinese classics into English. The English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi mainly underwent two periods. During the first period (from 1840s to 1940s) when many western sinologists threw themselves into the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi, the western culture was in a strong position while the Chinese culture a weak position. Most of the western scholars regarded western culture as the center of the world cultures and rejected other cultures. Under the influences of"western cultural centralism"and their colonizing or missionizing translation purposes, western sinologists often manipulated the original in the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi. The second period (from 1950s to now), when many western sinologists and Chinese scholars and translators participated in the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi, witnessed the rapid globalization and the rising of China. During this period, the western scholars gradually freed themselves from shackles of"western cultural centralism"and began to advocate coexistence of diverse cultures and embrace other cultures. And the Chinese scholars and translators attempted to strengthen China's cultural"soft power"in the world and enrich the world cultures by translating the Chinese culture into other countries. Therefore, the western sinologists respected more and more the"foreign"culture in the original when they translated Liaozhaizhiyi into the English world. And the Chinese scholars and translators adhered to the principle of"seeking harmony without uniformity"and tried every means to present real Chinese culture before the English readers when they translated Liaozhaizhiyi into the English world so that the Chinese culture could coexist harmoniously with other cultures.This research is of significance in two aspects. Firstly, it can make an objective evaluation of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi and thus provide reference for the future translators of Liaozhaizhiyi. Secondly, the development trend of translating the Chinese classics into English summed up from the case study of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi can provide reference and enlightenment for the translation of the Chinese classics into English in the future.This dissertation consists of seven chapters. The first chapter makes a detailed diachronic description of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi and a review of the study of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi both in China and abroad. The second chapter discusses the study of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi in the perspective of descriptive translation studies. It firstly introduces the development and theoretical innovations of descriptive translation studies and then determines the descriptive objects and methods for the study of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi. The third chapter discusses the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi by early western sinologists and their cross-cultural manipulation in translation through the case study of the English versions of Liaozhaizhiyi by Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff, Clement Francis Romill Allen, Herbert Allen Giles and George Soulie de Morant. The fourth chapter probes into the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi by contemporary western sinologists and their respect for the Chinese culture in translation through the case study of the English versions of Liaozhaizhiyi by Denis C. Mair, Victor H. Mair, John Minford and Sidney L. Sondergard. The fifth chapter explores the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi by Chinese scholars and translators and how they adhere to the principle of"seeking harmony without uniformity"to spread the Chinese culture to the world through the case study of the English versions of Liaozhaizhiyi by Rose Quong, Yang Xianyi et al. and Lu Yunzhong et al. The sixth chapter sums up the general characteristic of the historical process of the English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi and the development trend of translating the Chinese classics into English: development from cross-cultural manipulation to cultural harmonization. The seventh chapter makes a conclusion of this dissertation, points out its innovations and limitations, predicts its further studies and states its enlightenment for the translation of the Chinese classics into English.