The Union Of The Writer And The Translator

Lin Yutang(林语堂) was a significant and prolific writer and translator in Chinese literary history. Currently there is still much room left in the research on Lin's writing and translating activities. Based on previous studies, the thesis examines Lin's writing and translating activities so as to add some bricks into the building of the study of him.The thesis is intended to discuss Lin Yutang's translations such as auto-translation, edition-translation, poetry translation and bilingual writings. Lots of Lin's English works are centered on the description and discussion of Chinese philosophy, customs and folk life. Although having not explicit source texts, they are based on a body of source material. This forms the unique phenomenon of writing the original literature in the target culture. How Lin Yutang became both a writer and translator is the focus of this thesis.To analyze this, the author made an in-depth research on Lin Yutang's cultural concept and bilingual writing, his translation theory and practice, his educational background and life experiences.Moreover, based on Lefevere's Manipulation School Theory, this thesis also aims at exploring the various factors that have manipulated Lin Yutang's writing and translating selection of materials. By taking a systematic look into his works and his translations, the thesis analyzes how these elements, namely ideology and patronage have affected Lin Yutang's writing and translation. Through the analysis and study, the author arrives at the conclusion that Lin's success in his target readership can be explained by his skillful manipulation and rewriting in translations to adapt to western ideological and poetical tradition.Lin Yutang, as a translator and writer effectively pushes forwards Chinese culture's communication with western culture, which is unique but insightful under the cultural background of the day. China is now faced with the challenge of realizing the output of its local culture to western society, and Lin's case will be beneficial in translation study and globalization.