Lures Of The Other: On The Image Of China In The English Version Of Hong Ying's Novel K

K(《K》)is the most representative work of Hong Ying (虹影). It has been translated into languages of different countries in the West. Its English version was rendered by the overseas Chinese scholar Henry Zhao (赵毅衡) and American translator Nicky Harman. This thesis will take K(《K》)as a case study with the following reasons: The novel K(《K》)tells a significant love story between Julian, a proud Western man from Bloomsbury and K , a modern intellectual , at the same time as a mysterious Oriental woman who was also an expert in the Daoist Art of Love. It is based on a true story, and a number of Chinese celebrities are involved, such as Chen Xiying (陈西滢), Ling Shuhua (凌淑华), Hsu Chih-mo (徐志摩) and so on. Moreover, there are plenty of depictions on the image of China which was undergoing significantly historical revolution in the early 20th century. Therefore, translation of K(《K》)concerns construction of images of China. In the translating process of K(《K》), is it faithful and objective on the rendering of depiction about China? And are there any distortions or variations? If there are, what those distorted images are? Besides, how did these distorted images be constructed through translation? What is the role of the translator? This thesis will probe into these questions and try to find the answers to them.Although people have done a number of researches on her works from various perspectives, researches on translation of Hong Ying's novels can seldom be found. Most of them just concern the traditional literal level. In view of this situation, the thesis takes K(《K》)as a case study through applying the post-colonial translation theory and imagology of comparative literature as a theoretical basis to study and elaborates the distorted images of China in the English version of Hong Ying's novel K(《K》), trying to disclose the impact of"stereotypes"enforced by the western powerful culture and to do a further discussion on the issue of"self-colonization"and construction of national culture identity in the context of post-colonialism. And it attempts to elucidates the distortions, variations, and constraints of the national image in the perspective of the"others"——the English world,via elaboration on ignorance, violence and hedonism these three distorted images of China by means of comparative study of the original text and the translated text. Consequently, a fact will be unfolded that the translator is obviously dominated by the ideology of the West and himself, and on the other hand his attitude towards the translation is really readers-oriented. Therefore he cannot but consider the potential readership and market. The variations in the English version of K(《K》)occur and an uncivilized image of China was constructed through his rewritings.Generally speaking, in this thesis, researches on the issue of construction of national culture identity behind the phenomenon of variations from the aspect of imagology and post-colonial theory will help us recognize that"self-colonization"in translation have excessively distorted images of the Orient, and strengthened the commanding cultural misreading of China by the West. Furthermore, it will also provide a new horizon for cultural studies of translation.