A Comparative Study Of Three English Versions Of The Art Of War Under The Perspective Of Foucault's Power And Discourse Theory

There's been increasing interest in the study of the English translation of the Art of War in recent years. However, most of them focus on linguistic and cultural studies, and few researchers have made comparative studies of its different versions by putting them under a wider social and cultural context and historical background. On the basis of Foucault's Power and Discourse Theory, this paper makes a comparative study of three English versions of The Art of War in terms of linguistic and extralinguistic factors, and analyzes how power manipulates the translation of the work and how the translation reacts against and subverts the manipulating power.According to Foucault, power is ubiquitous, composed of all kinds of dominating and controlling powers. This thesis selects three versions of The Art of War– one translated by Giles (a British) and published in 1910, one translated by Griffith (an American) and published in 1963, and the last translated by Lin Wusun (a Chinese) and published in 1994. They were translated under different social backgrounds, ideologies, epoch requirements, translation purposes, and the translators manifest different translation angles (military or philology) and strategies. All are the results of power manipulation. From an extralinguistic angle, this paper analyzes the power manipulation of different historical backgrounds, social ideologies, translation purposes and the individual power discourses. At the linguistic level, the manipulation in the translation of chapter titles and culture-loaded words is studied.Meanwhile, power may give rise to resistance against power. While power manipulates translation, translation may resist or even subverts power. While analyzing power manipulation in translation, this paper also probes into the subversion of the translation of The Art of War to both the target culture and the source culture. The theory of power and discourse provides a new angle for translation studies and also broadens the scope of studying the English translation of The Art of War.