Cultural Factors In Literary Translation

In traditional translation theories, the translator Plays a passive role. He/she livesunder the shadOw of the authr who owns the suPreme righ and dOes his/her utInostto seek and realize the author's "real ifltelltion" in the targCt teXt. PotheodendSt theoryon author-texi-reader relationship has a great impast on translation Studies.' Postrnodehost theorists ampe that the author is dead or at least dying after the creationof a text. The teat is an oPen one, Which requlres no objechve interpretation of thecontent. 1t is the readeT. rather than the author, Who determines the meedng of a teat.Thus, the traditional supreme authority POssessed by that extremely conceited authorno longer exists while the status of the text is elevated, and the role of the reader ishighlighed. The sighficance of introducing POstriodehost theory on aUthor-texi-reader relationship into translation studies is that it gives prominence to the importantrole of the translator, who first of all acts as a "privileged" reader in trwtlationactivities. It is also beneficial to mobilizing the translator's initiative.Since the translator is the ceoter of tranSlation edivities, studies on the hallSlatOrshould be regarded as an inseParable part of translation studies. The process oftranslation is atally a Process of making choices. Of course, every choice is made'under the infiuence of various faCtors. StUdying factors influencing the translator'sdecisioedng will be of sighficance to tranSlation studies, tI'arislation Pratice andtranslation criticism.Up to now the biggest breakthrough in the study of factors whuencing thetranslator in literary translation is that scholars have gone beyond the lingUisticdimension and have been mdeng researches in the socio-cultural diInension. Theproblem is tha their stUdies are mainly confined to the influences coming from themacrMircumsboce of the mpet culfore. The author of this thesis holds that faCtorsinfiuencing the translator in literare translation mainly ekist on twO levels and threeasPectS. On the macro-level, there are influencing factOrs from the tnaro--' circumhaflce of the taTget cultUTe, on the mcro-level, there are induencing facorsconcewhng the tranSlatofs personal cultufal orientations and the targCt readrscultUral demands. hifiuencing factors from these three aspects fimctionsimultaneously on the translator in literary translation activities. They may either co--oPerate or compete with each other The final decision made by the translator comesas a result of the tuslators preference after mediating and balancing all thesellinfluencing factors.This thesis is comPOsed of five parts.The "Introduchon" deals with the POsihve impact of POtriodehast theory onauthorrtextreader relationship on tTanslation Studies, POinting ollt that studytngfactors influencing the bolatofs decisioondeng in the ProCess of hallSlation issignificant to trislation st'Udies, translation Practice and trAnslation criticism.' -ChaPter One discusses the theorehcal fOundation of this thesis, tha is, tranSlationis a crosaseulforal activity reviews former st-Udies on factors induencing litereqtTanslation, and suggests the theoretical hyPothesis of ffos thesis.ChaPter TWo is a detailed case study of Heinu Yu Tian Lu, in which, first of all, acomparison betWeen the ST and the ri is made and five translation featUrs of the TTare found oul and thoroughly discussed. Then, the causes for the choice of teXt andthose five featUrs are analyzed in great detall, the result of Which proves thefeasibility of the theoretical hyPOthesis of this thesis.ChaPter Thiee rethinks talation criticism by first pointing out the problemsexisting in traditional tTanslation criticism and then suggesting making translation' criticism in a descriPtive way.The "Conclusion" serves as a brief summary of the whole thesis.'...