The Transplant And Influence Of The Western Narrative Techniques In The Late Qing And Early Republic Of China

After its first translation in 1896, detective fiction as a new genre was soon accepted by Chinese readers in the late Qing and early Republic of China. In the following twenty years, detective fiction translation was characterized by a huge amount, rapid translating speed, and wide coverage. Among all of the detective fiction translations, the translation of Sherlock Holmes was the most influential, and its translated versions were best sellers in modern China. However, its translators have long been criticized for their frequent use of translation strategies such as deletion, addition, and revision, which have been thought to be unfaithful to the original work or lack of the knowledge of western literature and culture. In spite of these comments, the translation of Sherlock Holmes occupies an important role in the history of Chinese translation and even in the history of Chinese literature. It not only brings a new genre of detective fiction into China but many new narrative techniques.The discussion of narrative techniques is a major branch of narratology, whose application to translation studies supplies a new perspective on translation studies in recent years, broadening the scope of translation studies and deepening the understanding of translated literature. Originating from French structuralism in 1960s, narratology plays an important role in contemporary literary criticism. Classical narratology theories mainly center on the text itself and study the narrator's ways of expression such as focalization, narrative order, and narrative speed, which inspires this thesis's attempt to discuss the transplant of the narrative techniques in the translation of Sherlock Holmes in the late Qing and early Republic of China, to analyze the social-cultural context for this transplant and explore its influence on modern Chinese native detective fiction.The body of this thesis consists of three parts. By analyzing the focalization, narrative order and speed in three representative Chinese versions of Sherlock Holmes in the late Qing and early Republic of China, Chapter One discusses the transplant of the western narrative techniques in the translation of Sherlock Holmes. Chapter Two deals with China's social-cultural context for transplanting these narrative techniques from the constraints of poetics, the expectations of the readership, and the influence of the patronage. By taking a Chinese native detective fiction Huo Sang Detect as an example, Chapter Three gives a concrete study on how the western narrative techniques influence modern Chinese detective fiction. In this way, the thesis aims to reevaluate the status of the translation of Sherlock Holmes in the late Qing and early Republic of China, pointing out that the translation of Sherlock Holmes in that period exerted a profound influence on the narrative techniques of modern Chinese detective fiction, on the development of modern Chinese detective literature, and on the modernization of Chinese fiction.