A Study Of Yang Xianyi As A Translator

Yang Xianyi is one of outstanding literary translators in Chinese translation history. Throughout his life, he, teeming up with his wife Gladys Yang, who was also a noted translator, has translated and introduced numerous Chinese classical, modern and contemporary literary works to western readers as well as some masterpieces from other languages to Chinese readers on his own, thus making great contributions to the progress of China's translation cause.Although Chinese scholars in the field of translation studies have written many articles on Yang Xianyi's translations, there exist few all-round studies on him as a translator. Therefore, on the basis of the accumulated abundant data, the author of this thesis tries to conduct an all-round study of Yang Xianyi in terms of his dramatic life, translation activities, multi-language translations, thought on translation, and achievements and limitations in his translation career so as to lay a solid foundation for an exhaustive study of him by scholars in the future.This thesis falls into eight chapters, including the introduction and conclusion. The first chapter covers literature review, content, significance, and framework of the thesis.The second chapter deals with his translation career, which, spanning his up-and-down life, is divided into four stages——the amateur-translator stage, the professional-translator stage, the prolific-translator stage and the distinguished-translator stage.In the third chapter, the author of this thesis tries to elaborate on Yang Xianyi's thought on translation. Although Yang Xianyi seldom sets forth his thought on translation, we still can get a glimpse of it by analyzing his articles and talks in this regard.The fourth, fifth and sixth chapters are devoted to the study of his translation and introduction of Chinese literary works to western readers as well as masterpieces from other languages to China.The seventh chapter is devoted to the description of his achievements and limitations in his translation career. Firstly, the author of this thesis analyzes his tremendous contributions to the cause of translation and his towering status in the circle of translation both at home and abroad; secondly, the author tries to probe into the factors leading to his huge success, such as excellent bilingual and bicultural competence, a wide scope of cross-cultural knowledge, a scrupulous attitude toward translation and hearty support from his wife-translator----Gladys Yang; last but not least, the author objectively points out the limitations in his career.In the eighth chapter, the author sums up the thesis, pointing to its significance and shortcomings.