Influences Of Ideology And Poetics On The Selection Of Literary Translation

For years, translations have been regarded as derivatives and copies of the original works. However, in recent years, under the influence of post structuralism and functionalism, the focus of translation has been shifted to the target language and the target culture. Translation is not only the linguistic transfer from the source language to the target language, but also a cross-cultural communication; translation not only involves the translator but also includes several constraints, among which the social cultural factors are of great importance. Since 1970s, the translation study has begun its " cultural shift " and at the same time the target language oriented literary translation theory has gradually come into being, which has helped to broaden the translation study sphere.This thesis takes advantage of Andre Lefevere's ideas about the influences of ideology and poetics on the selection of literary translation materials in China. The theme of mis thesis is to explore the interactive relationships between ideology, poetics and literary translation. The research background is the literary translation from 1949 to 1976 in China. The reason for choosing this period lies in that literary translation at this time had its unique features and the influences of ideology and poetics on the selection of literary translation materials was more distinctive than that of any other period in the history of China. The whole thesis consists of five parts.The introduction presents the basic objective, the scope of the research and the significance of the research. Chapter one deals with the theoretical framework of the thesis, including Even-Zohar's "polysystem" theory and AndréLefever's "cultural manipulation theory". Meanwhile, the author introduces the cultural shift in translation studies both at home and abroad, delimitation of important concepts and the relationships between ideology, poetics and literary translation. Chapter two and chapter three are the main bodies of this thesis in which the author divides the period from 1949 to 1976 into two periods in accordance with great historical events. In each period, the author lists the translated literary works and typical translators, and then makes an analysis in detail to reveal how ideology and poetics exerted their influences on the selection of translated literary materials respectively. The last part is the conclusion in which the author summarizes the whole thesis and then points out the advantages and disadvantages of the thesis in a further step. The author draws the conclusion that from 1949 to 1976 in China, ideology and poetics have exerted great influences on the selection of the literary translation and on the contrary, literary translation affects ideology and poetics in that period.