Translation Criticism In The Years Of 1949-1966

Translation criticism constitutes an important part in translation studies and acts as the medium between translation practice and translation theory.However,scholars in this field mainly devote themselves either to finding faults with translated works or to constructing systematic theories or models of criticism.They scarcely pay any attention to actual critical activities during certain historical period.Taking the translation criticism in the 17 years of 1949-1966 as the research subject and by employing the method of historical description and case study,this dissertation delves into such questions as: what is the context of translation criticism? How does political agenda affect translation? How do policy of literary and art and policy of translation influence translation criticism? Who are the critics? What is the relationship between the criticism and the status of the critic? How do they carry out their criticism? What are the effects of the critical discourse? By answering the questions above,the dissertation aims at looking into the interrelationship between translation criticism,social context,mainstream political discourse,status of the critic,and selection of texts to be translated at that time.The research shows that translation criticism during the 17 years takes on a peculiar look under the general guidance of literary and art policy(political criterion first,literary and art criterion second)and translation policy(translation is to be strictly in line with the program and planning of the state).First,the content of the criticism is determined by the social and political status of the critics(state leaders,cultural officials,professionals and common readers)and thereby a hierarchical criticism order is formed.Second,translation criticism is closely related to politics.Mistakes in translated texts and translation activities are all evaluated from political viewpoints.Third,the critical discourse exerts great influence on the selection of foreign texts to be translated.Translations are confined to the “legitimate” foreign literature such as literature of the Soviet Union,“advanced(progressive)” English and American works and “revolutionary” works of Asian-African-Latin countries.Based on describing and inducing the translation criticism during the 17 years,the dissertation is to reveal the relationship between translation criticism and politics,and uncover the essence of translation criticism.At the same time,it is,hopefully,to enrich translation criticism from political,historical and cultural perspectives and broaden the horizon of translation studies.It is also conducive to probe into the approaches in period study of translation criticism.