A Study Of World Literature Digest From The Perspective Of Translation Norms In Guilin As A Wartime Cultural Center,1938-1944

The study of Regional Translation History is important for "the Rewriting of Translation History”.Guilin became an important cultural center in southwest China from 1938 to 1944 due to its special geographical and political reasons.Unlike Chongqing and Yan 'an,where two political forces were competing against each other in literary and artistic activities,Guilin was unique both in regional characters and in its literary system because it was the capital of Guangxi where the local government was a special political force between the Communist Party of China and Kuomingtang.According to the polysystem theory of the Translation Studies,translated literature is inseparable within the polysystem system of literature,and its position in the literature system changes under the influence of cultural factors.The special regional characteristics of Guilin from 1938 to 1944 inevitably affect the position of translated literature in the literary system.Translation activities are influenced by translation norms,which also have social and cultural characteristics and instability.World Literature Digest(WLD)was the only literary translation journal in Guilin from 1938 to 1944.The study of it helps to understand the norms of translated publications in the literary system in wartime Guilin.Based on polysystem theory of Descriptive Translation Studies and with the theory of translation norms,this paper studies the preliminary norms of wartime Guilin,the initial norms of literature translation before the birth of WLD,and the following and breaking of the operational norms of the publication.After the description of translated works and their paratexts in WLD's each issue,from the perspectives of poetics,ideology and patronage,with the three examples of translated texts and paratexts of English-oriented Of Mice and Men,Japanese-oriented Hankokei and Russian-oriented Maxim Gorky's two novels,this study tries to describe the understanding,following and breaking of translation norms of Qin Si,Hu Mingshu and Wu Mengchang,the representative translators of WLD.Under the study of the debates on important issues closely related to literary translation in Chongqing,Yan 'an and other regions,this paper tries to judge and explain the driving force and resistance of literary translation in literature polysystem during the war.It is found that the overlapping political situation in the region had an important impact on the translation norms of the literary system in wartime Guilin,which was prominently reflected in the implementation of the book censorship system by the Guangxi government.Political events led to difficulties in the censorship of literary works,which opened up a new space for literary translation.As the only literary translation journal in China at the time,WLD followed the translation norms initiated by Yiwen started by Lu Xun and others in 1930 s in text selection and paratext design.WLD did publish some translation works by translators like Hu Zhongchi and Mu Mutian from Yiwen era,but new translators,also the chief editor and other main translators like Qin Si,influenced by the old translation norms of left-wing translators,highlighted the heterogeneity of their translated texts through the use of regional dialect(including Guilin dialect)words and expressions in their translations and led the new translation norms under the influence of poetics,ideology and patronage.Their translation operations also corresponded with the domestic debates on "National Form","Popular Language" and other important issues,which made their literary translation close to the central position in the literary system of Guilin.Although WLD did not last long,some of its translation works exerted a certain influence in a larger area.This study mainly takes the Qin Si's translation of Of Mice and Men by American writer John Steinbeck in WLD as an example to explore the influence of non-literary factors,such as the change of Sino-American relations and domestic political environment,on the acceptance of this work in China from 1945 to 1949,in order to deepen the understanding of the spread of the translation works in and out of the region under the influence of the old and new norms,promote the study of Regional Translation History,and provide a new case for "the Rewriting of Translation History”.