A Study On André Lefevere's Notion Of Translation

André Lefevere initiates one of the most influential theories in descriptive translation studies: the rewriting theory.The theory reveals the influence of the social and cultural constraints on the production of translation,explores the strategies translators devise to tackle these constraints,and elaborates on the role of translation as a social and cultural product in the development and culture construction of a target literary system.It is generally acknowledged that the initiation and application of the rewriting theory transcend the limitations of the traditional linguistic approach,and the research scope of translation studies,since then,has been broadened by a large margin.Translation activities are no longer a mere text-rendering practice at the linguistic level,but are studied with reference to a wider social and cultural context,so that Translation Studies is capable of a more profound exploration of the underlying causes of translation phenomena.Over the years,a tremendous amount of research has been conducted on the social and cultural aspects of translation activities so that the study of translation has constantly been updated.However,the theoretical study of Lefevere's notion of translation falls short,and controversy as well as misconceptions concerning the rewriting theory does exist.The present study,based on a detailed and thorough analysis of a great number of Lefevere's articles and monographs,fulfills the compelling need for a comprehensive study on Lefevere's notion of translation,reveals its evolutionary nature,revisits its key concepts,and manages to clarify the misconceptions from a dynamic perspective.A diachronic study reveals that Lefevere's notion of translation has experienced the change from prescription to description,and has always been in evolution.In the 1970 s,Lefevere's notion of translation was prescriptive when he was involved in the study of poetry translation strategies and attempted to establish a translation theory with literary theories.Since the 1980 s,influenced by the theories such as cultural studies and deconstruction,Lefevere gradually developed the “refraction” theory and the rewriting theory on the basis of Russian Formalism and the polysystem theory.The “refraction” theory,also the predecessor of the rewriting theory,can be regarded as the second stage of Lefevere's notion of translation,and translation at the time was a form of “refraction” rather than rewriting.In the mid-1980s,Lefevere replaced “refraction” with “rewriting”,and commenced his most influential theory: the rewriting theory.At its early stage,the rewriting theory inherited most of the key concepts from the “refraction” theory such as the constraints of ideology,poetics,universe of discourse and language.However,Lefevere has attached less and less importance to universe of discourse and language as constraints after the publication of Translation,Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame.At the end of the 1990 s,the major constraints that influence the production of translation have evolved into “conceptual grid” and “textual grid”,which,as a matter of fact,correspond to ideology and poetics respectively.Lefevere's notion of translation,therefore,has a tendency to lay an increasing amount of emphasis on the social and cultural factors involved in the production of translation.The dissertation reflects on the key concepts of the rewriting theory from a synchronic and micro perspective,including system,patronage,ideology,poetics,universe of discourse and grid.A study of a large number of Lefevere's publications reveals that patronage and ideology have never appeared in juxtaposition in any version of the hierarchy of constraints in the rewriting theory.Thus it is inappropriate to incorporate both patronage and ideology into the so-called “three key elements” hierarchy of constraints.It is contended that the hierarchy is composed of ideology,poetics,universe of discourse and language,with the first two being the most important ones.Both ideology and poetics are complex and history-laden terms which cannot be defined with ease and simplicity,and this most probably accounts for the lack of a clear definition of the two concepts in the rewriting theory.The largest amount of research with the application of the rewriting theory has been devoted to the influence of ideology and poetics on the production of translation,while much less attention has been paid to the constraints of universe of discourse as well as grids.Universe of discourse features are actually concerned with the cultural factors embedded in the original text that usually lead to untranslatability,and the “grid” theory is a version of the rewriting theory in its later period.It is argued that in future research more attention can be paid to the way in which universe of discourse,conceptual grid as well as textual grid influence the production of translation.From a macro perspective,the dissertation explores and clarifies a number of misconceptions concerning five aspects of the rewriting theory,the hierarchy of constraints,the nature of rewriting,research paradigm,ontological study as well as translator's subjectivity.The hierarchy of constraints in the rewriting theory has been in evolution in its quality as well as quantity.Lefevere does not give a total denial of the significance of language,but believes that the linguistic study of translation can be subsumed into translation studies and works as translation pedagogy and translator training.It is contended that the rewriting theory sheds light on the nature of translation from a social and cultural perspective,just as traditional translation theories explore the nature of translation from a linguistic perspective.The two approaches concentrate on different aspects of the nature of translation.Hence,it does not make sense to claim that translation is identified with rewriting in the light of the rewriting theory.The influence of the social and cultural constraints is only relative.The rewriting theory,as a descriptive translation approach,can provide useful tips as well as guidance for translation practice.Moreover,Lefevere is a linguist acquainted with several languages and involved in a considerable amount of translation practice.The rewriting theory,consequently,is generated on the basis of translation practice although it has quite a few theoretical origins.In addition,descriptive translation studies,according to Holmes' classification of translation studies,are not applied research;the rewriting theory,therefore,should not be confused with prescriptive translation studies that aim at laying down rules for translators to abide by.It is a misconception that what the rewriting theory focuses on is the extrinsic study of translation.Translation has never been undertaken in a vacuum,but under the influence of diverse socio-cultural factors and,in return,influences the receiving literary and cultural system.It is also a falsified belief that the rewriting theory overemphasizes the socio-cultural factors in translation activities so that it is likely to deprive translation studies of its independence as a discipline and reduce it to a branch of cultural studies.Actually,the application of the rewriting theory has generated a vast amount of constructive research on translation studies so that the horizons of this specialized field have been greatly broadened.Besides,the rewriting theory,as well as other descriptive translation studies,will never abandon the study of translation and turn to cultural studies because they use the description of translation practice as their basis.The rewriting theory has never requested a translator to manipulate the original text deliberately with conformation to the central ideological and poetological concepts.Translators,on many occasions,are not aware that they are “manipulating” the text under the influence of the constraints.Moreover,rewriting occurs only because translators have to devise strategies to cope with the socio-cultural constraints so that the translated works can be successfully admitted into the receiving culture.Here,it is stated that the rewriting theory,from the perspective of the original text,helps exhibit the enhancement of translator's subjectivity because translators tend to rewrite the original text in one way or another.However,from the perspective of the receiving literature,the theory helps exhibit the restriction of translator's subjectivity because translators have to do so under the influence of a particular social and cultural context.In the light of Habermas' theory of communicative action,translation can be viewed as a communicative action which incorporates cultural reproduction,social integration and self-representation.An ideal translation theory is supposed to cover the study of all the three functions of translation,understanding,coordination and socialization,rather than overemphasizes any one of them.Apparently,traditional translation theories take into account the objective world of a translator,but neglect the social and subjective worlds.The rewriting theory does not deny the function of the objective world,but it does lay stress on the study of the latter two worlds.The rewriting theory is not only of high academic value in the translation studies in the Chinese context,but also directly applicable to the translation and dissemination of Chinese literature and culture in the world.However,translation theories tend to better explain certain aspects of translation activities while neglecting others,and the lack of a perfect translation theory accounts for the constant construction of translation theories.There are inconsistencies in Lefevere's notion of translation,for example,the contradiction in Lefevere's attitude towards translation studies as a discipline,the ambiguity of the hierarchy of constraints concerning patronage and ideology,the flaw in the categorization of text types in the rewriting theory in its later period,and the shadow of prescription on the rewriting theory as a descriptive translation approach.The dissertation is an innovative study for several reasons.First of all,it is a thorough and comprehensive piece of research conducted for the first time on nearly all the aspects of Lefevere's notion of translation;it covers a study of its evolution from a diachronic perspective;it presents an interpretation of the key concepts from a micro and synchronic perspective;and it also elaborates on the significance and problems as well as clarifies the misconceptions from a macro perspective.Secondly,the research is undertaken on the basis of more than thirty of Lefevere's publications collected at home and abroad rather than a mere theoretical analysis lacking in a foundation.The methodology,therefore,is innovative,which helps prove that Lefevere's notion of translation,including the rewriting theory,is always in evolution and should not be viewed in a static manner.Lastly,the dissertation explores an ideal translation theory in the light of Habermas' theory of communicative action.The exploration is believed to contribute to the construction of translation theories in the future.