Refractions of Four Books in their early English translations and the works of Emerson and Thoreau

The study of the English translation of the Four Books is extensive both in China and the English speaking world, covering the works of a wide range of translators. Yet the amount of study on the earliest English translations of these Chinese classics is comparatively small. Research that includes both interlingual and intralingual translations of the Four Books is even less.;This dissertation is based on the refraction theory put forward by Andre Lefevere. By analyzing the texts of several earliest English translations of the Four Books, including the Morals of Confucius, and the versions by Joshua Marshman, by David Collie, and by James Legge, it studies the deviations that occurred in the process of translation, deviations that were decided by the concrete historical conditions under which the translation took place and by the cultural, linguistic, ideological, etc., constituents of the translators.;Besides interlingual translation, this dissertation also concerns intralingual translation of the Four Books, namely the quotation of the classics by two American writers Emerson and Thoreau in their writing. Since their quotation is based on their interpretation of the English translations, by studying the refractions that occurred in their quotations, this dissertation tries to produce a more comprehensive picture of what had happened in the dissemination of the Four Books in the English speaking world.