A Study On Two Chinese Versions Of Jane Eyre From The Perspective Of Lefevere's Manipulation Theory

Jane Eyre is one of the masterpieces by Charlotte Bronte, a British novelist in the nineteenth century. The writer of this thesis proposes to analyze two Chinese versions of Jane Eyre from the social-cultural angle within the framework of manipulation put forward by Lefevere.Lefevere is an authority in translation studies who states that translation activities should be studied in cultural system. He studies the influence of ideology, poetics as well as patronage on the translator's selection of the original text and translation strategies adopted and declares that translation is a rewriting of the original text. Different translators live in different social-historical contexts, so they have different ideological and poetological constraints. Translators will invariably manipulate their translations to make them conform to the target ideology and dominant poetics so as to meet more readers' demands. Therefore, for translators in different times, there are various differences in their diction.This thesis attempts to analyze two Chinese versions under the guidance of manipulation theory, and prove that different historical times, ideology, patronage and dominant poetics will influence translators and strategies, which, in turn, will affect the translations. At the same time, the writer will analyze the versions from their dictions, styles and culture. Thus the thesis is divided into five chapters.Chapter One introduces aim of this study, methodology, significance of this study and the structure of it.Chapter Two discusses the origin of manipulation in translation studies, the interaction between ideology, poetics, patronage and translation, thus points out different social-historical contexts will have influence on literary translation.Chapter Three gives a brief introduction to Charlotte Bronte, her novel of Jane Eyre, and the two translators with their respective versions.Chapter Four makes a comparative study of the two versions, including diction, collocation, Europeanized grammar and sentence structure, from social background, ideology, dominant poetics, patronage, translators and translation principles.Chapter Five is the conclusion of the whole thesis.In comparison, the writer discloses the applicability of manipulation theory plus its contribution to establishing translation studies, and proves the impact and guidance on translation practice from manipulative factors. So, the writer concludes that all versions are acceptable so long as they can meet the demands of different ages and express the translators' translation principles. When commenting on a translation, we shouldn't abruptly label it as good or bad, but take into consideration the translators' living times, and put the translation product into a particular social-historical context, so as to make an objective judgment. And by constant retranslation and perfection, translators can make their translations meet the demands of new ages better and make the translation project more prosperous.