A Comparative Study Of Harold Shadick's And Yang Xianyi's Rendition Of Lao Can You Ji-viewed From A Functional Perspective

Lao Can You Ji (《老残游记》), written by Liu E (刘鹗1857-1909), was considered by Lu Xun as the representative of the four denouncing novels of Qing Dynasty. By narrating Lao Can's various experiences on his trip, the author expressed his strong desire to save the country and its people. The political corruption at the end of Qing Dynasty was assailed, and it was the first time in Chinese literary history that how the so-called honest officials had cruelly killed innocent people had been disclosed. With high artistic achievement, among all the Chinese novels written between 1840 and 1949, this novel is the most influential one abroad and has been acclaimed by critics home and abroad. Some of its chapters have been included in the textbooks of high school students.Functionalist theory is a translation theory originated in German in the 1970s. This theory moved translation research from a static research guided by linguistics to the dynamic research of an intercultural communication in the social and cultural background. Regarding skopos as the guiding principle, functionalist theorists put translation research within the framework of the Theory of Action and theory of cross-cultural communication. Skopostheorie is the most important theory in functionalist approaches. According to skopostheorie, attaining a particular translation purpose is the overriding rule for translation and it determines the whole translation process. Functionalist theorists also discuss how translators should handle the literary tradition reflected by the source text and culture-specific words in the source text. This theory can play the guiding role in translation practice.In Lao Can You Ji, there are many culture-specific words and allusions which reflect Chinese culture. This novel reflects Chinese literary tradition. To achieve translation purpose of disseminating Chinese culture, translators need to deal with the above factors in proper ways. On the basis of functionalist theory, by comparing the two versions by Yang Xianyi and Harold Shadick, this thesis aims to explore the translation strategies and translation methods which should be adopted by the translators so as to adequately fulfill the translation purpose of disseminating Chinese culture. Besides introduction and conclusion, the thesis consists of four chapters.Introduction offers a brief introduction to Lao Can You Ji, its author, Yang Xianyi and Harold Shadick, the two translators, its English versions, as well as the structure and research methodology of this thesis. Chapter one gives a review of pre-functionalist translation theories as well as an introduction to functionalist translation theorists and their views. At the end of the chapter, classification of culture is included.Chapter two focuses on Yang Xianyi's and Harold Shadick's translation skopos of translating Lao Can You Ji and elucidates the possible translation strategies for translating this novel.Chapter three is a functional analysis of Yang Xianyi's and Shadick's rendition of examples involving literary tradition.Chapter four is a comparative analysis of Yang Xianyi's and Shadick's translation of examples involving language culture, ideological culture, material culture, and music culture from the functional perspective. Translation strategies and methods adopted by the two translators, as well as the translation strategies and methods which should be adopted are summarized in conclusion.