A Study Of Hu Shih As A Translator

Hu Shih(1891-1962),as the banner man of May 4^th Movement,contributed greatly to the building of new Chinese literature.His translation activities played an important part in his probe into new literature.He advocated,organized and attempted to translate western masterpieces by himself,partly for providing models for the establishment of new Chinese literature and partly for providing ideological enlightenment for social reform.In addition, he organized translation committee to translate classic works systematically.Hu Shih was the first to translate western poems into vernacular Chinese poems, which gave birth to new poetry in China.His Changshi Ji paved the way for the development of new poetry and greatly pushed literary revolution forward.He was one of the founders of modern Chinese short story theories.He affirmed the status of short story in Chinese literature,advocated realistic literature and gave scientific definition of short story.He was also the first to import Ibsen's problem play into Chinese through translation. He attached importance to the translation of the famous works in western dramas to find the model for new dramas.This thesis takes Hu Shih as a case study,trying to give a thorough description of his literary view,his translation activities and his literary creation around the May 4^th Movement.The thesis contains six parts.The first part is an introduction,which includes the background of the research,the significance and the methodology of this study.The second part gives the literature review of the study,summarizing the previous research on Hu Shih.The third part introduces Hu Shih's life experiences and his academic thoughts.The education Hu Shih accepted both in China and America made a good preparation for his advocacy of the revolution of new literature.He held that the social function of literature was to educate people.With the slogan of "audacious hypothesis and careful test",his great desire to create new literature pressed him to try various ways of literary innovation.In his entire life,he devoted himself to the promotion of vernacular Chinese and realistic literature in China.He believed the reform of Chinese literature should begin with learning new concepts,new writing techniques,and new literary genres from our western counterparts.His advocacy on vernacular revolution and his translating on western masterpieces satisfied the demand put forward by social transformation on literature.The fourth part concentrates on his translation activities,including his translation purposes,translation periods,translation thoughts,his organization of translation committee and his comments on other translators.The fifth part explores the contribution he had made on translated literature in terms of his translations of poetry,short stories and western drama.He was the very first man who wrote and translated poems in vernacular Chinese and the very first man who gave scientific definition on short story in the history of Chinese literature.His translation of western drama provided ideological enlightenment for social reform at that time.The thesis concludes with an evaluation of Hu Shih as a translator and generalizes the interrelationships between his literary translation and creation.