A Study Of Yang Xianyi’s Translation Of Lu Xun’s Complete Fiction From The Perspective Of Cultural Psychology

This dissertation is largely concerned with the major features of Yang Xianyi’stranslation of Lu Xun’s complete fiction, integrating text analysis into descriptivestudies of the translator, which is believed to be desirable. On the basis of culturalpsychology, the dissertation proposes that all human behaviors are thought to beexplained by his or her psychological activities. Translating is a process of linguisticand psychological activities, or more specifically, a process of a series ofpsychological activities based on the medium of language. To put it simply,translating is, in essence, a process of cultural psychology.In specific terms, this paper approaches the above-mentioned subject in twoaspects, namely the cultural psychology of the ST (source text) and that of a translator.Firstly, writing is a process recording psychological activities of the original writer,whose creative mind is also traceable in the ST’s cultural psychology. A ST is acultural craftwork, in which the original writer’s cultural psychology and his or herwriting are interwoven: the original writer’s cultural psychology determines the ST’sform and content, while the ST is a reflection of and response to his or her culturalpsychology. A translator’s comprehension of a ST is a process of decoding, which isutterly different from common readers who normally only care about their feelingsaroused and imagination stimulated. A translator is bound to probe into every detail ina most careful way. Since a ST is a record of the original writer’s psychological tracksand activities, an overall comprehensive analysis of cultural psychology involved inthe ST facilitates the translator’s profound understanding of the ST both in form andcontent. Only in this way can the translation quality be assured.Secondly, this paper investigates the translator’s translating psychology. In thetranslating process, a translator’s reading, thinking, processing and reproducingexhibit the whole process as a series of cultural psychological activities. Translating is,as the subject of the whole process, a translator’s cultural psychological activities. Inother words, translating is the process in which a translator against certain culturalbackground subconsciously reveals his or her intentions, purposes, perceptions and values. A translator’s cultural psychology determines, to some extent, his or herchoice of the ST, the techniques and strategies of translation and purpose oftranslation. That is to say, an exquisite translation is a collaboration of the originalwriter and the translator. The translator expresses his or her spiritual pursuits in the STwhile the ST is sublimated through its translation.This research employs the text analysis of Lu Xun’s complete fiction as its mainmethod, even in describing features of Yang’s translation. On the other hand, Yang’scultural psychology is explained as the dominant factor in his translating process.The first chapter serves as an introduction, which briefs the origin of this study,the choice of the ST and TTs (target texts), the background of the translators involved,the theoretical foundation, and the purpose, significance, methodology and frameworkof this dissertation.The second chapter mainly focuses on the current research accomplishment interms of Chinese-English translation of Lu Xun’s novels, especially Yang’s translation,before elaborating on the creative breakthroughs in this research.Chapter three respectively explores the cultural psychology of Lu Xun and YangXianyi by analyzing the contributing factors in its formulation, in which the messageis conveyed that translating is a process of tracking down the original writer’s mindand a good translation demands accurate comprehension of the original writer’spsychology, the result being that Lu Xun’s cultural psychology becomes the primaryissue of the research on the translation of Lu Xun’s novels. A translator’s culturalpsychology exerts direct influence on his translation strategies and selections. Thispaper analyzes the translator’s cultural psychology in two perspectives: macro andmicro. In macro terms, Yang’s career of translation is closely related to the social,political and cultural conditions in the twentieth century. His translational era-specificbehaviors could never escape from the influence of prevailing ideology and dominantideas then. In micro terms, his uniqueness is well exhibited in his family background,marital situation, personality featuring patriotism, and his thinking pattern. All thesecontribute to his unique cultural psychology and in turn directly influence histranslating behavior. The fourth chapter examines the translation at the level of words. It comparesthree translated versions of all of Lu Xun’s novels starting with the translation ofculture-loaded words. Then comes the analysis of translation of characters’names andnovel titles. Lastly, the computer-aided analysis is targeted at the detailed study ofunique words and vacant words of Yang’s version. It should be noted that theinterpretation of the meaning is supposed to accord with the cultural and historicalbackground of the ST and the cultural psychology of the original writer. The finaldetermination of the meaning should be completed within the framework of the ST’scultural psychology. In other words, no guesswork or random interpretation is allowed.Even liberal translation is certainly to be done on the premise of thoroughlyunderstanding the meaning. Through the comparative analysis of many representativeexample sentences, it is concluded that Yang’s translation concerning the level ofwords is influenced by his pattern of thinking, the background of the time when helived and the unique feature of his work, etc. His translation is faithful to the ST withan accurate understanding of connotative and associative meaning of words. Histranslation tries its best to be concise, expressive and fruitful in aesthetic effects. Headopts literal translation as his main method, which is aided by liberal translation. Hemanages to reproduce the ST to readers by coining words at times, carefulconsideration of words and canonized way of expressing.The fifth chapter is the study of translation of various figures of speech in all ofLu Xun’s novels. Yang’s translation aims to reproduce the original sincerity andexquisiteness in Lu’s figures of speech. It describes and analyzes the translation ofmain figures of speech at the level of the diction, the syntax and the meaning.Generally speaking, Yang’s translation tends to adopt literal translation whereverpossible and liberal translation when literal one fails to achieve the semanticequivalence. The optimal equivalence in form, tone and emotion is the target ofYang’s translation. Compared with the other two versions, Yang’s choice of words isdiscreet and concise, trying to achieve the equivalence both in form and meaning. Thepity is that translation without annotation at times fails to rephrase the connotationconveyed in the original, to reproduce the original writer’s psychology in writing or to give consideration to readers’ psychology of entering into the writer’s psychologythrough reading translated works. In translating figures of speech concerning syntax,Yang focuses on the arrangement of different sentence types in concise rhythmiclanguage. Yang’s translation has the least subjectivity in reproducing the concretecontent and the choice of words by sticking the most closely to the ST even in liberaltranslation. He has such a rigorous attitude towards translation that he reads betweenand beyond the lines and tries to reproduce the in-depth connotation in his translation.When translating the figures of speech concerning meaning, Yang’s translation keepsusing literal translation as its main method and aids it with liberal translation.Compared to Lyell’s choice of colloquialism in translation of certain parts, Yang’s useof formal expressions well keeps the comparatively greater formality in style. Heattempts to retain the Chinese cultural images and expressions, weighing greater ofthe original culture than of the readability.In summary, Yang’s translation of figures of speech is well done by readingbetween the lines and pinpointing the writing psychology of the original writer. Histranslation is a fruit of his translation thoughts, way of expressing, thinking patternand cultural aestheticism.Then comes Chapter six, which elaborates on the translation of descriptivelanguage. The translation of the description of the characters and environmentreproduces the original writer’s creative mind. Traces of a translator could be found intranslation, which tells of his or her translation psychology. Yang’s translation in thisaspect is the best evidence. This chapter comparatively analyzes the translation ofgeographical surroundings, scenes of killing, and portraits of characters’ appearance,language and actions in Lu’s novels so as to discover Yang’s translating features.All above, from the perspective of translating descriptive language in novels,Yang’s version is faithful to the original in structure, choice of words and tone. At thelevel of discourse, it reads very smooth and consistent in style. At the level of diction,it is accurate and beautiful. His conscientious attitude toward translation and greatproficiency in English contribute to his great achievement in translation.Chapter seven is the concluding part. Through three levels of comparative analysis of translated versions of Lu Xun’s novels in light of the choice of words,figures of speech and descriptive language, this research concludes features of Yangs’translation, followed by the analysis of reasons examined from the perspective oftranslator’s translating psychology. The influence of era, purpose of translating,choice of the ST, the identification of intended readers and way of thinking areexamined. Different translation psychological factors bring about different translatedversions. At the very last are the limitations and expectations of this research.