The Purpose And Choices Of Lu Xun's Translation Against The Social And Cultural Background

The essay attempts to bring to light the social role translation plays and the social responsibility it shoulders by analyzing the relation between the Chinese modernization process beginning at the end of Qing Dynasty and the translation activities of Lu Xun, and thus probes into the proper visual angle of translation studies.The introduction points out the present study of Lu Xun's translation and the objective of this research paper. Most of the present study of Lu Xun's translation focuses on his translation strategies. The author of the essay holds that the study could start from a broader visual angle, the social background in which the translator lived.Chapter one elaborates the Chinese modernization movement involved in the crisis of national extinction, and the responding third translation high tide. The translation high tide begins with the translation of military technology, natural science and technology, organized by Westernization Movement members, then follows the breakthrough of translating and introducing foreign social sciences, advocated by Modernization Movement members. The members of New Culture Movement eventually make the translation of literature works popular. Lu Xun is a translator born for the needs of the period. Lu Xun sees clearly the crisis and the inner and outer"illnesses"of his countrymen. The inner illness is the apathy passed down from the declining feudal culture, while the outer illness is the suffering resulting from the infiltration of the western corrupting imperial culture. To awaken his countrymen to struggle to get free from the abyss of suffering, Lu Xun thinks that the utmost task is to"consummate people"and"alter the national character"of his countrymen. To achieve this, Lu Xun takes the career of art and literature. Translation is the tool Lu Xun uses to bring into China the"looking mirror"for his countrymen and the efficient remedies for their...