Translation And Research Of Lisao In The Anglo-American World

English-language research on the 3rd-century BCE seminal work Lisao and its various translations into English cover a history of just over 100 years.So far,studies in this field – whether in China or abroad – have been limited to analyses focused on specific translations,western sinologists' readings of the work itself,or surveys of selected periods in its translation history.This thesis therefore addresses a significant gap in Lisao scholarship: it aims at a comprehensive,systematic and philologically sophisticated reading and critical assessment of the past century's western research and English translation history of the famous work.To date,Qu Yuan's Lisao has been translated into English no fewer than 12 times,earliest attempts dating back to the first half of the 19 th century.This thesis tracks and analyzes the evolution of forms,contents and lyrical rewriting of these 12 translations.The exploration of translatability of “untranslatability of form” and the disappearance of “de-familiarization of content” relate to macro-level cultural exchanges between China and the West,while the translators' rewriting interweaves translators' psychological idiosyncrasies and the needs of the times,comprising the interaction between the translator and the translation at the micro level.Overall,the above-mentioned threads – the evolution of forms,contents and lyrical rewriting – together reveal a discernable trend of gradually approaching,absorbing and understanding the source language culture(Chinese traditional culture),which indicates the far-reaching influences of nationally economic and political power being exercised upon the “soft power” of culture.The analysis of academic research history of Lisao in Britain and America in particular is also carried out in the process of a fusion of Chinese and Western horizons.The misunderstandings and creative reconstructions of Lisao by British sinologists in the 19 th century reflect the limitations of sinological vision in the initial stages of interaction between China and the West,along with the West's complex attitudes towards Chinese traditional culture.During the 20 th century,British and American scholarship on Lisao was shaped by the perspectives of Western theory,which included not only the magnificent construction of shamanism in Lisao literature after the deconstruction of the traditional Confucian perspective,but also the paving of mutual understanding and complementarity between Chinese and Western cultures in Jung's psychology,existentialism and parallel comparative literature,as well as the modernist construction of Lisao in the field of individualism and linguistics under the influence of “foresight” of western academic tradition.In the 21 st century,some contemporary Western sinologists have deepened the integration of China and the West in their research and annotations on Lisao.Specifically,many methods of Western literary criticism are employed to analyze the traditionally symbolic connotations of Lisao and extend Lisao's modernity from the perspectives of the readers' psychological connotations and alienation theme as well.Further,on the basis of the sinological tradition of shamanism,the past research achievements of Chinese and foreign scholars of shamanism have been demonstrated,integrated and expanded upon,while,based on the integrated approach of Chinese traditional literature,the research history of Lisao was consolidated by integrating and reforming new methods and theories in Western academia.Taking the history of English translations of and western research on Lisao as the object of its study,this thesis thus explores the work's diachronic development from the perspective of cultural studies,presenting the strategies,patterns,characteristics and principles of cultural exchanges between China and the West and offering a critical appraisal of the problems raised by its conclusions.