Translation As Rewriting: Ideological Manipulation In Yan Fu's Translation Of "Evolution And Ethics"

Inspired by the recent "cultural turn" in translation studies, which has led to the view that translation can never be studied without taking its wider situational and socio-cultural context into account, this dissertation attempts to shed some light on ideological influence on the whole translation process. A detailed case study of the whole process of Yan Fu's translation of Evolution and Ethics, including his choice of the work to be translated, the translation strategies employed in his translation practice and social responses to his translated work, intends to reveal the forces and constraints of the political ideology and aesthetic experience of the target culture, which guide Yan Fu's translation activity from its beginning to the end.The analytical approach is divided into three components. Firstly, by introducing some notions and ideas within the field of translation studies, mainly André Lefevere's theory of translation as a form of rewriting and his arguments on the influences of ideology and poetics on literary translation, a theoretical foundation will provide the necessary knowledge on the many and diverse ways in which ideology impinges on literary translation practice. In the second part, a detailed description of the socio-cultural background in Yan Fu's living times, mainly the social ideology and aesthetic requirements of China's scholar-officials and Yan Fu's own translation motivation will pave way for discussion on the ideological distortions in his translation practice. In the last part, a comparison of writing style, main contents and language conducted between the source and target texts will provide more convincing proofs for literary translation as a form of rewriting carried out under the constraints of domestic ideology.