Qian Zhongshu: The Sage Reconstructing The Tower Of Babel

Qian Zhongshu's "realm of transformation" (huajing) has exerted enormous impact on Chinese translation circle ever since it was put forward by Qian in his essay "The Translations of Lin Shu". And it has been regarded as the highest stage of the development of the artistic school of Chinese translation theory. It remains a pity, however, that the comprehensive and systematic study towards the "realm of transformation" has not yet been adequate, and most of which is carried out on the strength of the traditional Chinese philosophy, aesthetics and philology.Well versed in both Chinese and Western languages and cultures, Qian Zhongshu devotes his whole life pursuing the aim to "strike a connection" between East and West, between different intellectual fields. He would often bathe traditional Chinese academic thought in the light of Western context to re-examine and re-interpret the essence of the traditional Chinese academic achievements, and vice versa. In this respect, Qian's academic thought seems to anticipate the "interdisciplinary" methodology now so popular in academia all around the world. Therefore the interpretation of Qian's "realm of transformation" might also be carried out in the light of "interdisciplinarity". In fact, Qian's translation thought has everything to do with the Western translation theories. And some of his views towards translation resemble those of deconstruction.The present thesis, on the basis of a scrutinous reading of Qian's relevant works, attempts at a comprehensive, concrete and systematic study of the "realm of transformation" from the perspective of deconstruction through the methods of "parallel research" and "interpreting Qian in his own words" or "letting Qian's texts mutually illuminate themselves" in an effort to draw more academic concern to this particular research area, and thereby deepen the conversion of gearing Qian's "realm of transformation" to contemporary age.