A Study Of Rickshaw Boy Translated By Evan King From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

Traditional translation theories regard translation as language transformation. Translation study was at that time limited on language level. Emphasis was put only on the faithfulness or equivalence to the source text. Once, there was any alteration, the translated work would be severely criticized and denied by critics and scholars. Cultural Turn in translation studies took place in the seventies and eighties in 20th century. Scholars began to bring culture, society, history and other external factors into translation studies. New translation theories appeared one by one since then. Scholars, represented by Even-Zohar put forward the famous Polysystem Theory. Andre Lefevere and Susan Bassnett carried on and further developed this theory, based on which, they raised Rewriting Theory. They published many a book concerning this theory. In the book, Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame, Lefevere argues that translation is not only transformation on language level, but also rewriting on cultural level. The significant concept of rewriting is introduced in that book. According to Lefevere, translation is a kind of rewriting, which is constrained by ideology, poetics and patronage in certain historical period. Usually, the rewriters adapt and manipulate the source texts to some extent, to make them fit in with the dominant ideology and poetics of their time. By doing this, rewriters tend to make the rewritten work accepted by as many readers as they can. Based on Rewriting Theory and through analysis of Rickshaw Boy translated by Evan King, this thesis is trying to draw a conclusion: Evan King rewrote the source text as a result of the manipulation of ideology, poetics and patronage in target language culture. The rewritten work was easier to be accepted by target readers because it complied more with the dominant ideology, poetics and readers'expectation in target language culture.All together, there are three English versions of Luotuo Xiangzi: Evan King's Rickshaw Boy, Jean M.James'Rickshaw: The Novel Lo-t'o Hsiang Tzu, and Shi Xiaoqing's Camel Xiangzi. Rickshaw Boy translated by Evan King is the first English version, published in 1945 by Reynal & Hitchcock Company. It turned out to be a huge hit as soon as it was published in America. It was wildly welcomed among American readers and soon became the best-seller of the year. Not long after its publication, it became one of the books recommended by famous Book-of-the-Month Club in New York. Thanks to its big success in America, the book was republished in London in 1946 and then translated into French, German, Swedish, Italian, Spanish and other languages.However, Evan King's version was refused and badly criticized by the Chinese literary circles because he did a lot of rewritings. What kind of alteration did he make when he translated Luotuo Xiangzi? What made him do those rewritings? Why was the target text warmly received by target readers? The thesis is going to find out the answers to these questions through the analysis of Rickshaw Boy from the perspective of Rewriting Theory.Before this thesis, some scholars have already analyzed translation versions of Luotuo Xiangzi from the perspective of rewriting theory. But most of them chose one or two of the three aspects-ideology,poetics and patronage to start their study. This thesis will do deep dive analysis on all three aspects. Besides, in terms of ideology, this thesis will be the first to study the influence of translator's personal ideology on translation strategies.The thesis is divided into three parts—the introduction, the main body and the conclusion.In the introduction, four aspects are covered including the research background, the research subject and purpose, the research significance as well as research methods.The main body is made up of three chapters.In the first chapter, a brief introduction is given to the original text Luotuo Xiangzi and its author Lao She as well as the translated text Rickshaw Boy and its translator Evan King. Through comparison between the two, it is found that Evan King rewrote a lot in the translated version. He changed the tragic ending into a happy one, highlighted the sex description, altered revolutionists'images, added and also deleted some plots. Hereby the first question mentioned above is answered.The second chapter mainly introduces the theoretical framework of the thesis. First, after reviewing traditional Chinese and western translation theories, the author points out their limitations. Then, the phenomenon of cultural turn in translation studies is introduced and famous translation theories appeared during the cultural turn are expounded. Among those theories, Andre Lefevere's Rewriting Theory is of overriding importance. Finally, a detailed explanation is given to Rewriting Theory, especially the three factors (ideology, poetics and patronage) which exert great influence on translation.In chapter three, the most important chapter of the thesis, the author tries to analyze Rickshaw Boy introduced in chapter one from the perspective of the Rewriting Theory expounded in chapter two. The analysis is made in terms of ideology in the first section. The author states that the translator chose Luotuo Xiangzi as source text and adopted rewriting strategies as the result of joint action of American social ideology in 1940s and Evan King's personal ideology. In the second section, analysis is made from the perspective of poetics. It is stated that Evan King rewrote to some extent to make the target text comply with the dominant poetics in the target culture. The third section mainly analyzes the influence exerted by patronage on the translation. In a narrow sense, patronage refers to the investors and the publishing company; in a broad sense, a political party, a religious body and the literary censor can also be regarded as patronage. In this section, patrons of Rickshaw Boy, such as policies of American government towards China, the attitude of American military of that time and the press are taken into consideration while studying the influence exerted by the patronage on translation. In the fourth section, it is indicated that Rickshaw Boy is warmly received by American readers. Besides, the author tries to find out the reasons through the analysis.The last part is the conclusion, in which the author concludes the research findings. First, translation study from the perspective of the Rewriting Theory helps expand the dimensions of translation studies. Then, the research reveals translators'motility, improving translators'status. Finally, the research helps scholars and critics make a more impartial and objective comment on the translated texts. The author suggests that more attention should be paid to this translation study perspective.