A Descriptive Translation Study On Translation Behavior In The Late Qing Period Of China: A Case Study Of Lin Shu And His Translation Of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Lin Shu is one of the most influential translators in Late Qing period. He initiated modern literary translation, and his translations imported new ideas, literary concepts, styles and techniques from the West. These, in turn, influenced the emergence and development of modern Chinese literature. Many translators and scholars have written hundreds of articles trying to evaluate and assess Lin's translation from Lin's times on, but most of them are just from the perspective of traditional linguistic science. As a result, past studies often criticized that late Qing translations were unfaithful to the originals. Translators at that time were always blamed for making arbitrary changes on the source texts. Besides,a wrong tendency has possessed the dominate position in the translation research for a long time —the purpose of the translation research is widely accepted as being application-oriented and the prescriptive conclusion has only been drawn upon the translation. The overriding practical opinions toward translation lead to the ignorance of its historical and cultural value. Therefore, there is a need of a more sophisticated approach towards Lin's translation. Only when an advanced framework—a socio-cultural bound research framework—has been provided, can it further the progress of the research on Lin Shu and his literary translation career. In this thesis, the author will try to observe and analyze Lin's translation via socio-cultural oriented framework of translation research. In other words, a descriptive approach provides a proper platform, which enables the author of this thesis to justify Lin Shu's endeavors to 'rewrite'foreign literatures on the grounds of China's sociocultural context. From the achievements of translation studies both in China and Western countries, some strong tendencies have emerged in the academic circles, shifting from the perspective of linguistics to that of culture and politics, from the study of mainstream translation practice to recreative-translations, from the adoption of the source-oriented approach to target-oriented approach. These tendencies lead to an extension of translation research scope in keeping with the actual reality. Some of the most exciting developments in translation studies since the 1990s have been part of what has been called "the cultural turn". The turn to culture implies adding an important dimension to translation studies. That is, instead of asking the traditional question which has preoccupied translation theorists—"how should we translate, what is a correct translation?"—the emphasis is placed on a descriptive approach: "what do translations do, how do they circulate in the world and elicit response?"The emergence and development of descriptive approach of translation studies, including terms such as target/culture-oriented and manipulation group/school, offer the possibility of re-assessing Lin Shu and his translations in the context of the historical, socio-cultural and political crisis in which China found itself at the time. Guided by the theoretical ideas introduced by descriptive approach of translation studies, this thesis aims to describe the translating behavior in the late Qing period of China, finding out the role, the position and the practice of translation activities. In other words, the author will try to move beyond the description of textual phenomena to bigger questions of historical poetics and politics. Indeed, the full significance of Lin Shu's translation will only emerge when his translations are interpreted not simply as misrepresentation, distortion, disguised composition of parasitic nature, or enhanced performance but as an act of poetic and ideological engagement. In order to give a more substantial representation of the author's research results, there will be a case study on Lin Shu, and also an analysis of his rendition of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The thesis is composed of six parts: "Introduction"deals with the brief history of descriptive approach of translation and some background knowledge of it.Chapter One discusses the theoretical base of this thesis. This section provides detailed analysis of one of the outstanding descriptivists―Andr éLefevere's concepts. Chapter Two outlines the historical context of late Qing period as well as the characteristics of translation activities at that time. Chapter Three presents the legendary translator―Lin Shu's life story and his translation idea. Chapter Four is a detailed case study of Henu Yutian Lu, in which, there is an illustration of the original spirit of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Then, a comparison between the source text and the target text is carried out in order to observe how those controlling parameters are taking effect in the process of translation. "Conclusion"serves as a brief summary of the whole thesis.