A Medio-Translatology Study Of The Works Translated By Linshu

Linshu is reputed as the first person to introduce to China the contemporary and modern western literature. With a unique translation styles, productive translations works and in-depth influence, he secured an irreplaceable position in the 20th Chinese literature history. Throughout his life, Linshu altogether translated as many as 180 foreign literary works, which are called Works Translated by Linshu. This paper, from the perspective of comparative literature and translation studies, is to be divided into four chapters, which mainly deal with such issues as the reasons engendering the translated works by Linshu, the unique characteristics and features of Lin's translations, the influences exerted by them onto the Chinese society and Chinese literature development.The first chapter is devoted to the investigation of the cultural and historical backgrounds as well as the era opportunity of the works translated by Linshu. The author will approach these issues from the aspects like the decline of imperial examination system, the development of modern media, the establishment of the system of making additional payments to writers and artists for contributions, the rise of reform thoughts and the supplementary between an expert in classic and an genius in foreign literature.The second chapter mainly focuses on such issues like the domestication translation strategy in terms of the works rendered by Linshu and the phenomenon of corruption in Lin's translations. Generally, Linshu adopted domestication in his translations and made a lot of renditions, deletions, supplementations and improvements while translating the original works. Moreover, he even went so far as to adapt the western literary works and make them like Chinese novels. All these features highlighted the creative betrayal of Lin's translated works.The third chapter mainly explores the positive impacts that Lin's translated works wielded on the Chinese readers and Chinese society. To be specific, Lin's translations built a bridge to link the western and Chinese cultures, gave a full play to the role of the appealing foreign novels to the national fellows, calling them for saving our nation from the dangerous state. Besides, they also promoted the enlightenment with a view to the marriage autonomy and personality liberation.The forth chapter make an analysis about the positive influence exerted by Lin's translations on the literary development at that time. They promoted the status of novels in the literature circle, embodied the achievements of the literary revolution; they introduced the western critical modernism; they provided new characterization model and pushed ahead the revolution of the styles and techniques for Chinese novels.