The Cultural Position Of Translated Literature And Selection Of Translation Strategies

Using Etamar Evan-Zohar's Polysystem Theory as the framework, this thesis attempts to probe the influence of the cultural position of China exerted on the selection of translation strategies adopted in the history of translated literature of China (1898-1937). Since translation is a means of cultural communication, the cultural position of a nation and the position of translated literature in a given literary polysystem in relation to the target culture exert significant influence on the translators' selection of translation strategies. According to Polysystem hypothesis proposed by Even-Zohar, the translators in a strong literary polysystem tend to adopt domestication strategy and thus produce translations that cater for the reader's tastes and the traditional literary norms of the target culture. While in a weak culture, foreignization or resistant translation strategy is popular with the translators, and thus translations are closer to the original text both in form and culture. The position of translated literature in a given literary polysystem is to a large extent determined by the cultural position of the given culture assumed in the world cultural polysystem. Even-Zohar outlines three conditions under which translated literature occupies a central position: Similarly, when translated literature occupies a central position: (1) when a polysystem has not been established, that is to say, when a literature is still "young"; (2) when a literature is either "peripheral"(within a large group of correlated literatures) or "weak" or both; (3) when there are turning points, crisis, or literary vacuums in a literature. Central position gives rise to foreignized translation and peripheral position, domesticated translation.This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter introduces the cultural study of translation in China and abroad, concentrating on Even Zohar's Polysystem Theory. The second chapter analyzes the characteristics of literary polysystem of China. Chapter three analyzes translation strategies adopted during two historical periods in history of translated literature of China based on Polysystem Theory: (1) the Late Qing Dynasty (1898-1919); (2) the May Fourth Period (1919-1937). Translated literature of Late Qing Dynasty assumes a secondary or peripheral position and playeda secondary function in literary polysystem of China: to enforce the established models and traditional culture of China, and thus translators adopted domestication strategy. During the May Fourth Period, China was experiencing a cultural crisis, and translated literature assumes a central and primary position, according to Polysystem Theory, foreignization strategy would be adopted, but in China, both domestication and foreignization coexisted side by side. So translators' cultural attitude also plays an important role in selecting translation strategies. This thesis probes the two opposite perceptions of Chinese culture to explain this unique feature of translated literature of China, taking Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu as examples. Chapter four comes to the conclusion that although Polysystem Theory provides a new perspective of viewing the relationship between translation strategies and cultural position of a given culture, it has some limitation in explaining translation of China.