An Exploration Of Reasons For Popularity Of Lin Shu's Translated Novels

Lin Shu (林纾)(1852-1924)was a famous translator in the late Qing period. He translated about 180 novels of 11 countries, and was one of the translators who introduced foreign literature into China in early days. There are many scholars studying Lin Shu and his translated novels, but few of them have made research on the reasons for the popularity of his translated novels systematically.This thesis is an attempt to find out the reasons for the popularity of Lin Shu's translated novels from three aspects, that is, the subjects of the translated novels, the translator himself and the readers. From the study of the three aspects, the reasons for the popularity of Lin Shu's translated novels are clear, that is: first it is the subjects Lin Shu's partners chose that make the translated novels popular, for most of the subjects of the translated novels met the horizon of expectations of the readers then and satisfied their need. In the late Qing period, people knew little about the outside world except their firearms, and thought that foreigners had no splendid culture and literature as their own. However, Lin Shu changed their opinions, his translated novels made the Chinese know that foreigners also had touching love story, there were oppressed people in foreign countries as well, besides, foreigners wrote many adventure and detective novels which they did not read before, so the various subjects of Lin Shu's translated novels aroused the readers'curiosity. Then they are the first reason that makes Lin Shu's translated novels popular. Second, the translator himself is a key factor that makes his translated novels popular. Lin Shu's elegant classical Chinese made his translated novels vivid and attractive; the skills he used were fit for the reception environment at that time; and his good relationship with the publishing house promoted the circulation of his translated novels. Therefore, Lin Shu himself is also a factor that makes his translated novels popular. Third, the readers of Lin Shu's translated novels are an important factor that cannot be ignored for exploring the popularity of the translated novels. Different readers had different reading motivation, some of them wanted to relax themselves by reading novels, some liked to seek knowledge by reading, some preferred to imitate the writer's writing skills, and Lin Shu's translated novels could satisfy most of their reading motivation, so the readers were eager to read his translated novels, they made these novels popular.