Translation Of Holmes In The Late Qing Dynasty And Early Republican Period

In the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republican Period appeared the second climax of translation in China. A lot of foreign novels were introduced into China. Among them, Sir Conan Doyle's Holmes detective story became the most popular one. The main concern of this thesis is to make a careful and detailed research on the translations of Holmes detective story in the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republican Period.In recent years, culture turn in translation study provides a new direction for us. Many unsolved problems or misunderstandings under the traditional translation view can easy to be explained or justified in the target oriented theory. Israel scholar Gideon Toury's descriptive translation study and target oriented theory is one of the theory origin of culture turn in the translation studies. He thinks that the standard to judge translation should be based in the target culture and target readers. In the translation of Holmes in the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republican Period, there are many special translation phenomenons which are made considering the target readers and culture. Thus, the author chooses target oriented theory as the theory basis for this thesis.In the first, the thesis introduces different versions of Holmes detective story in the Late Qing and Early Republican Period, their translators, the time they published and some related historical information. Then the author analyzes the why Holmes detective story received the most welcome. Some special features about Holmes detective story itself such as easy to understand and attractive to read is one of the reasons. At the same time, the social and culture background also contribute to the popularity of Holmes in China. All these factors together brought the flourish of translation of Holmes detective story in the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republican Period.In the next part of the thesis, through the analyzing and comparing of many examples extracted from both source text of Holmes and translations in the Late Qing and Early Republican Period, the author proves the feasibility of using target oriented theory to analyze the Holmes detective story in the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republican Period.At the same time, the translation of Holmes detective story has left a huge influence on the Chinese novel. Not only it leads to the creation of Chinese detective novel, but also it introduces us many new writing methods and techniques.At last, the author again elaborates his argument. By using target oriented theory, he is able to give a fair and objective evaluation of the translation of Holmes detective story in the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republican Period.