Ideological Manipulation In Evan King's English Translation Of Luotuo Xiangzi

Andre Lefevere points out that translation is rewriting and that rewriting is manipulation.In his view,translations are not made in a vacuum but in historical, social and cultural contexts and are manipulated by ideology and poetics at a given time.Based on the views of the Manipulation School and Lefevere's ideas of rewriting,this thesis takes a descriptive approach to explain the rewriting phenomenon in Evan King's English translation of Lao She's Luotuo Xiangzi—Rickshaw Boy.Through a comparison of the original Chinese version with its English translations,it is found that there are considerable rewritings in the translation,which are mainly manifested in the following four aspects:highlighted sexuality,change of the tragic ending into a happy ending,relocation of Ruan Ming—a revolutionary in the story,and the invention of two characters—the girl student and One Pock Li.Then, in order to interpret Evan King's rewriting,his translation is studied in its social and historical contexts.This study shows that Evan King's rewriting in his translation and its reception by readers are both subject to ideology of the translator,of the target readers,of the patronage and other agents.This research will not only help us understand better what happened to Evan King's translation and why that happened,but will also,most importantly,inform translators of the fact that ideological elements should be taken into account in the process of translation as well as in translation quality assessment.