Manipulation: A Rewriting Of The Original

The paper is a tentative analysis of Xu Yuanzhong's poetic translation theory in the light of the Manipulation Theory and the Translator's Subjectivity. Xu's theory lays great emphasis on the translator's creativity in translation. The essence of his theory can be summarized as "the Art of Beautifization". Specifically, it includes "three beautifuls", (i.e. "beautiful sense, beautiful sound and beautiful form") and "three '-izations' (i.e. "deepeninzation, equalization and generalization") with a view to enabling the target readers to understand, appreciate and admire the source text. A case study of Xu's poetic translation is carried out to illustrate how the translator exerts his subjectivity and manipulates the source text in order to realize his translation purpose.The paper consists of five chapters. The first chapter discusses the characteristics of literary translation, pointing out that it is a creative art. Literary translation cannot be simply assessed by such traditional criteria as equivalence and fidelity. It calls for the creativity on the part of the translator. The second chapter is a literature review of the Manipulation Theory and the Translator's Subjectivity. The Manipulation Theory regards literary translation as a rewriting of the source text, namely, manipulation. This process of manipulation is restricted by the target culture. But this theory lays too much emphasis on the constraints of the target culture on the translator. In fact, the translator possesses the abilities of manipulation and anti-manipulation. These two aspects should be combined to understand literary manipulation. The third chapter explores manipulation and poetic translation. Here Xu Yuanzhong's theory of poetic translation theory is analyzed and illustrated to prove the manipulation theory. The fourth chapter discusses the relationship between literary manipulation and the purpose of translation, pointing out that in literary manipulation, the translator's cultural attitude and the purpose of translation have an important impact on the strategies he adopts. The last chapter is the conclusion, which summarizes the findings of the research and points out that with the increasing understanding of theChinese culture on the part of the western readers, the strategies the translator adopts will change accordingly. This is worth our further exploration.