Yan Fu's Translation Of Tianyan Lun Under Lefevere's Manipualtion Theory

AndréLefevere is one of the representatives of manipulation school in translation. He believes that translation consists of four systems: ideology, poetics, register and language, and points out that translator should not only translate words and sentences, but also the ideology, poetics, and register. After adopting the contributions to translation studies made by Even-Zohar and Michel Foucault, he proposes the concept of rewriting in his book Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame, and tries to study translation in the context of politics, ideology, economy and culture, discussing further factors restricting the rewriting in translation. In Lefevere's words, translation is a rewriting of the original text. All rewritings, whatever their intentions, reflect a certain ideology and poetics and as such manipulate literature to function in a given society in a given way. Rewriting is manipulation, undertaken in the service of power, and in its positive aspect can help in the evolution of a literature and a society. Rewriting can introduce new concepts, new genres, new devices, and the history of translation is also the history of literary innovation, of the shaping power of one culture upon another (Lefevere, 2004a: viii). The concepts of rewriting in Lefevere's Manipulation Theory put emphasis on the function of the target text, expanding people's understanding towards translation phenomenon, broadening the translation field and offering a new perspective for the modern translation study.Yan Fu is an important enlightenment thinker and translator in modern China. He first systematically introduces Western thoughts into China, such as, Huxley' Evolution and Ethics, Adam Smith's An Inquiry into Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, etc. After his translation and introduction, the Western thoughts gradually spread in China. Mao Zedong once said: "Yan Fu is among the first group who are seeking truth from the West before the emergence of the Communist Party, and he is one of the four who are the most outstanding" (李泽厚126). Yan Fu, as an important translator in modern Chinese, not only owns the fame of talent in translation, translating over 1700000 words, but also proposes the translation criteria "Xin, Da, Ya", so his influence exerted on translation is profound without fail. TianYan Lun(《天演论》下同) is one of his most important works in translation, characterized by its distinctive content, elegant language expression and profound social function. Its emergence stimulates a lot of people's affectionate patriotism to save the country from extinction and struggle for survival, and encourages a number of advanced literati to seek the truth of saving the nation from aggression and exploration, such as Lu Xun and Hu Shi. This thesis tries to study Yan Fu's translation of TianYan Lun from the perspective of Lefevere's Manipulation Theory. There exist a lot of rewritings in Yan Fu's translation of TianYan Lun. According to manipulation theory, translation is a rewriting of the original text, and the rewriting will be manipulated by ideology and poetics, so rewriters will rewrite the original text to conform to the dominant ideology and poetics of particular time in translation. Therefore the author of this thesis sounds that Yan Fu's translation of TianYan Lun is manipulated by his ideology and poetics. This thesis includes four chapters:Chapter 1 serves as the theoretical basis for the present thesis, focusing on the core of Lefevere's Manipulation Theory—rewriting. Polysystem Theory and Power Discourse Theory will be briefly introduced as the theoretical basis relevant to manipulation in translation. The rewriting in Lefevere's Manipulation Theory, ideology and poetics manipulating rewriting in translation will be discussed respectively.Chapter 2 concentrates mainly on the manipulation existing in Yan Fu's translation of TianYan Lun. First the original Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays(《进化论与伦理学》下同) written by Huxley and the Chinese version TianYan Lun translated by Yan Fu will be briefly elaborated. Then, the author will give a general survey of the manipulations in TianYan Lun from the ideological approach and poetical approaches. Chapter 3 explores the personality of Yan Fu's ideology and poetics from the background of the dominant ideology and poetics in his times. His ideology is exceeding the age, his poetics is following his times, and both the two factors exert great manipulation on his translation.Chapter 4 makes thorough analyses that Yan Fu's translation of TianYan Lun is manipulated by his ideology and poetics. The manipulation by his ideology and poetics in his choice of translation materials and translation strategies will be analyzed respectively with enough translation examples.In conclusion, the author sounds that Yan Fu's translation of TianYan Lun is a manipulation determined by his ideology and poetics. Through the study of Yan Fu's translation of TianYan Lun from the perspective of Lefevere's Manipulation Theory, the author deepens the understanding and study on Yan Fu's translation, and makes a reasonable comment on Yan Fu's contribution to China's translation.