| Eugene O'Neill(1888-1953)is an expressionist representative in the 20 th century,a founder of national drama,and milestone character in the history of world literature.As a prolific playwright,he has written more than 50 dramas,numerous poems and dramatic theories in nearly 40 years.He has won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama four times during his lifetime,and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936,which has made O'Neill the first and the only American playwright to receive this award so far.Together with Arthur Miller(1915-2005)and Tennessee Williams(1911-1983),he is hailed as the top of the three playwrights in the 20 th century in the United States.The critics say that they collectively extend the influence of American drama beyond America,as well as set the standards for dramatic achievement for contemporary playwrights around the world.There is no doubt that O'Neill has exerted great influence on Chinese drama and directly promoted the modern transformation of Chinese drama.In the 1930 s,his influence on Chinese drama was centered on the dramatic creation of Hong Shen and Cao Yu,while in the 1980 s,which mainly manifested on the dramatic creation of Chinese “Exploratory School”playwrights and directors.Therefore,it is essential to study the acceptance and influence of O'Neill's drama in China comprehensively and systematically in the current context of Chinese and Western intercultural drama exchanges.This thesis attempts to proceed from the acceptance theory of Comparative Literature,based on intensive reading of the texts,sorting out and summarizing O'Neill's drama in China in terms of translation,research,performance and influence etc.with the method of “influence study” in Comparative Literature,mainly discussing the acceptance and influence of O'Neill's works in China such as Before Breakfast,Beyond the Horizon,Anna Christie,Desire Under the Elms and Long Day's Journey into Night,as well as the expressionist drama represented by The Emperor Jones,The Hairy Ape,Strange Interlude and All God's Chillun Got Wings to completely outline the acceptance track curve and to unfold a panoramic view of the acceptance and influence of O'Neill and his drama in China.This thesis consists of five chapters to separately discuss Q'Neill and his works,the acceptance of O'Neill's drama in China in the aspect of translation,research,and performance,as well as the tremendous influence of O'Neill's drama on Chinese drama.Chapter One studies O'Neill and his dramatic creation from the perspective of the communication of Comparative Literature.O'Neill,as a representative playwright of expressionist literature,couldn't really fit into American society and culture for his Irish-American,wandering on the edge of American society like an “other”,whose creation went through three different stages,during which he fully absorbed nutrition of the philosophies of the ancient sages and inherited the literary heritage and dramatic traditions of the predecessors,who applied the ways and methods of expressionist drama to excavate and express the characters' the thoughts,emotions and ideas of deep inner world and to highlight the tension of the characters' inner world.Chapter Two deals with the translation of O'Neill's drama in China from the perspective of medio-translatology.The translation of O'Neill's drama in China has mainly gone through four stages: The prelude to the translation of O'Neill's drama in the 1920 s,The first boom and vigorous development in the 1930 s,the trough in the 1940 s to1970s,and the second wave and pluralistic development in the new era.Meanwhile,this paper compares the Chinese versions of O'Neill's drama with different styles in the same source language,in order to show the different translation strategies adopted by the translators,and to demonstrate that during the two "O'Neill crazes",the translation of O'Neill's drama is guided by dramatic literature rather than by stage performance,and the translated dramatic texts are only read as literary works,not as theatrical texts for stage performances.Chapter Three mainly elaborates the research situation of O'Neill and his drama in China,mainly sorting out and summarizing the acceptance of the research form of O'Neill's drama.From a diachronic perspective,there were two upsurges of O'Neill's drama research during the two “O'Neill crazes” in the 1930 s and 1980 s.From a synchronic perspective,in recent years,with the rise of “the Second Western Tide” and the increasingly frequent communication and integration between domestic and the international Eugene O'Neill academics,the study of O'Neill's drama has gradually become refined,deepened,thematic and digitized,with a broader research perspective,presenting a trend of changing to interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective.The academics makes an in-depth exploration and modern interpretation of O'Neill and his drama from various angles,indicating that the study of O'Neill's drama in China has entered a broader field.Chapter Four interprets the numerous performances of O'Neill's drama in China intensively,focusing on the adaptation and transplanted performances of O'Neill's dramas such as Desire Under the Elms and Anna Christie from three dimensions of performance profiles,directorial concepts,and stage show,also studying the performances of O'Neill's other classic dramas like Before Breakfast and Beyond the Horizon in China in recent years to reveal the popularity and the situation of stage acceptance of O'Neill and his drama in China to some extent.Chapter Five deeply discusses the influence of O'Neill's drama on contemporary Chinese drama.The translation,research and performance of O'Neill's drama show the overall situation of acceptance of O'Neill's drama in China,so on the basis of acceptance,O'Neill's drama is bound to have a profound influence on Chinese drama,especially on the modern transformation of Chinese drama.Modern transformation of Chinese drama realizes its reemergence in the 1980 s,and during this key period,O'Neill's influence on contemporary Chinese drama was embodied in the dramatic creation of the “Eexploratory School”playwrights like Li Longyun and Li Jie.It is particularly reflected in the creative application and innovative development of O'Neill's ways and methods of expression in Li Longyun's Wasteland and Man and Li Jie's Guta Street. |
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