Manipulation Of Literary Translation

The traditional wisdom holds that translation is the mere conversion of different languages and it aims to achieve dynamic equivalence between the source language and the target language, translators should try every means to mimic the content and style in a different language. Thus translated works were considered derivative and therefore inferior, not only second-hand, but also second-rate, and hence not worth too much serious study. The shift toward the study of non-linguistic factors involved in translation activities, marked by the"Culture Turn"in the 1970s, has broadened the perspective on translation studies. Especially, the rewriting theory put forward by Andre Lefevere and Susan Bassnett provides us with a distinctively new and descriptive angle. Ideology, patronage and poetics have received much more attention and in turn they have become the gauge on which we can rely to scrutinize and re-consider the pivotal role played by pioneering colossi during major cultural transformation in history.The New Culture Movement at the beginning of the 20th century has witnessed great intellectual undulations and social revolutions from which emerged a host of scholars and pioneers. Hu Shi is definitely an important figure in that period of history. Though both"Some Modest Proposals for the Reform of Chinese Literature"and"A Constructive Revolution in Chinese Literature"bore the modest titles, they did pose great challenges to wenyan and pave the new way leading to the creation of baihua poetry. Hu Shi is not only a theorist but a strong practitioner. The Experimental Collection included a great many translated poems which triggered the use of baihua as a literary means. And the poetics and themes acquired by Hu Shi have also undergone tremendous changes which are the reflections of various influencing factors including ideology, patronage and poetics.Relying on the rewriting theory, the thesis strives to probe into the controlling factors which have cast great influence on Hu Shi's translation of poems.