Purposeful Action

Lin Yutang was a world-known writer and translator in modern China. In addition to a series of works written in English, the achievements he gained in translation should not be ignored. Compared with his contemporary Chinese translators, Lin Yutang attached distinctive features to his translation. For the historical and environmental influence, most Chinese modern translators were engaged in translating foreign works into Chinese, expecting to bring fresh blood and beneficial influence to the language, thoughts and culture of China. However, in such a setting, Lin Yutang stopped his active involvement in the "westernization" campaign, and began to translate Chinese classical works for westerners, which was really a strange phenomenon.The whole literary career of Lin Yutang could be divided into three phases: 1. from the second half part of 1920s to the first half part of 1930s (in Shanghai); 2. from the second half part of 1930s to the first half part of 1960s (abroad, mainly in America); 3. from 1966 to 1976 (in Taiwan and Hong Kong). The second phase was the major period of his C-E translation, during which he accomplished no less than eleven important translated works, moreover, the most successful works were all finished in this period. As a Chinese translator, he spent the most productive thirty years abroad, and gained popular appreciation in the western society. Therefore, to make a study of his C-E translation during this period will be significant for understanding Lin Yutang's distinctive translation phenomenon.In order to know the various features of Lin Yutang's C-E translation, the vital point is to clarify the motivation of this performance, namely, the purpose of his particular C-E translation. For translation is a man-made action, in the whole process of translation, the translator has to take the purpose into account, and all his decisions must be directed by this purpose.Taking the Skopostheorie of the functionalist approaches as the theoretical basis, this dissertation sets up a theoretical framework for the study of a translator's...