A Comparative Study Of Two Chinese Versions Of Robinson Crusoe From The Perspective Of Polysystem Theory

The Polysystem Theory which was established during the process of studying the Hebraic literature is a translation theory put forward by the Israeli scholar—Even-Zohar. The proposal of Polysystem theory promotes the status of translation study because in the Polysystem Theory, the translated literature is regarded as a single literary system and it can occupy the primary position or the secondary position within the whole literary system. What's more, the establishment of the Polysystem Theory is instructive for the study of translation phenomenon and translation strategy macroscopically because the Polysystem Theory emphasizes the influence of the historical and cultural factors to the position of the translated literature within the whole literary system and the influence of the different positions of the translated literature to the translation strategies. The emphasis of the historical and cultural factors of the Polysystem Theory can explain why different translators of different ages choose different translation strategies macroscopically.In my thesis, two Chinese versions of Robinson Crusoe are chosen—Xu Xiacun's version and Guo Jianzhong's version and after the analysis and the comparison of the two versions, we may find out that Xu Xiacun is more inclined to adopt the translation strategy of foreignization while Guo Jianzhong is more inclined to adopt the translation strategy of domestication. And the reasons of different choices of translation strategies are also analyzed from the perspective of Polysystem Theory.Xu Xiacun's version was published in 1959 and at that time, the new China was just founded. After the anti-Japanese war, the people's war of liberation and the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, Chinese literature was experiencing a blanking period. The literary forms were simplex and the literary achievements were limited. Under the historical situation, the translated literature occupied the central position in the whole Chinese literature and the main task of the translation activity was to create the new patterns. So Xu Xiacun's version is more inclined to adopt the translation strategy of foreignization.Guo Jianzhong's version was published in 1996. At that time, the Cultural Revolution was over and the policy of Reform and Open up was carried out for almost ten years. Chinese literature developed a lot. The literary creation was varied and the output of the literary works was abundant. Under the circumstance, the translated literature occupied the peripheral position within the Chinese literary system and the main task of the translated literature was to find out the existing patterns in the system of the target language. So GuoJianzhong is more inclined to adopt the translation strategy of domestication.