Cultural Losses And Ways Of Compensation In Two Versions Of Hongloumeng From Postcolonial Perspective

Post-colonialism study is a new and hot topic in academic field these years, which is promising. By exposing the essence of cultural hegemony of imperialism to the third world, postcolonialism tries to develop itself from resistance to dialogue into a new form of relationship between Eastern and Western countries so as to destroy the Authority or Center .Postcolonial translation theory, born in the mid- to late 1980s, is the application of this theory in the translation field. After examining translation activities in various historical conditions and the structures between powers hidden behind target texts, theorists of postcolonial translation studies argue that there does exist difference between"strong cultures"and"weak cultures"and translation activities rarely involve a relationship of equality between texts, authors or cultures. So their research challenged the traditional Utopia hypothesis of cultural equality and language equality and hence denied the foundation of complete equivalence in translation.In the course of cultural colonization, translation has been serving as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it has been used negatively in all kinds of ways to confirm cultural and economic hegemony of Europe, to establish and perpetuate the asymmetry and inequality of relations between peoples, races, languages and cultures. On the other hand, it has been used and will be used positively to resist colonial and postcolonial powers. Based on the postcolonial translation theory, and through the case analysis of two English versions of Hongloumeng, this thesis aims to display western translator's prejudice and despisement toward weaker cultures including the Chinese culture, and eastern translator's attempts and efforts to preserve their national cultures. This case analysis well proves the correctness of postcolonial translation theory at practical level. Finally it argues that the cultural dialogue between East and West cannot be reached at the cost of losses of our cultural identity...