Choices Of Fiction Translation In The Late Qing Dynasty From The "Horizon Of Expectations"

The fiction translation campaign in the late Qing Dynasty has a remarkable position in the Chinese literary translation history. However, for its unique social purpose, this campaign, especially its choices of the original works and translation methods, is criticized sharply by the later literati. Now more and more scholars turn their attention from textual equivalence to culture exchange, so they stress TL readers'influence on the translating choices, thereby offering a more objective evaluation on this translation campaign. In order to emphasize the influence of TL readers, this paper analyzes the upsurge of detective fiction translation in the late Qing Dynasty and the usage of the special translation methods including "supplement, omission and alteration"from the perspective of "horizon of expectations"as well as its related concepts such as "change of horizons"and "fusion of horizons". As a result, this paper makes three obvious contributions as follows: First, stressing the influence of TL readers'horizons on the choices in translating process and affirming translators'positive consideration for the former. Second, providing a possibility of reevaluating this translation campaign, thereby pioneering a new approach to studying other translation activities. Third, offering translators a worthy way to forecast TL readers'favor, which guides the future translation practice effectively. Of course, there are some limitations in this paper. 1. Though translators are the first TL readers, the paper does not take this factor into consideration with the purpose of simplifying the theoretical framework. 2. The paper ignores the negative influence of TL readers'horizons on the translation choices. Undoubtedly, these weaknesses point the further study in this field out clearly.