Retranslation Of Literary Masterpieces In The Cultural Context

By comparing the YangBi's and Peng Changjiang's Chinese versions of Vanity Fair, the author gives a descriptive study on the retranslation of literary masterpieces which has begun to thrive at the end of twentieth century and is now in the ascendant. Because of the different cultural context the translator involved, the two versions differ greatly in the translations of the novel's name, names of chapters, names of figures, allusion from western culture and style of language.Meanwhile, guided by Andre Lefevere's rewriting theory, the author intends to put the retranslation of Vanity Fair into a macrosocial and cultural background and discuss the ideological and poetological influence on the retranslation of literary masterpiece. The application of Andre Lefevere's rewriting theory would help us to understand the differences involved in translations of Vanity Fair and also would provide a new perspective to evaluate the retranslation of literary masterpieces, which cannot be solved through traditional translation studies.Based on the previous studies, this thesis discusses the influence of ideology and poetics in retranslations of literary masterpieces:(1). the cultural context doesn't only exert a great impact on the choice of literary translation, but also exercises a great influence on the translator's choice of social value and morality during his translating.(2). the cultural context, whose influence is more indirect than direct, always has effect on the formation of translator's ideology and thereby exerts a great influence on the choice of literary translation. Although the position of literature and culture often has an immediate impact on the development of the whole literary translation, they can only exert an indirect influence on social ideology and individual ideology which are closely linked up with cultural context and historical background.(3). the cultural context and literary translation are interrelated and interact on each other. The cultural context has a great effect on the choice of the theme, content and strategies of literary translation, while the literary translation influences imperceptibly the development of the cultural context. This thesis discusses the influence of ideology and poetics on the retranslation of literary masterpieces from the perspective of rewriting theory and provides a fresh and valuable endeavor for translation studies.