On Pearl S. Buck's Translation Of All Men Are Brothers— From The Perspective Of Cultural Relativism

The famous American female writer Pearl S. Buck's translation All Men Are Brothers is warmly welcomed in the West, but is very controversial in China. Opinions on her version have always been mixed,but there are more derogatory than praises. In the past scholars thought that her version is over-Chinese and ignores the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, hence her translation is a"misunderstanding"of the original book; recently the praises on her version affirm the function of her translation in maintaining the identity of Chinese language, so her translation can better spread Chinese culture and realize the purpose of cultural exchange. Why is Pearl's version so special that it received such different comments before and after? This dissertation intends to study the question from the theory of cultural relativism.From Pearl's translation we can find her cultural viewpoint. She grew up in a double world and was influenced by both the Chinese and Western cultures. But she lived in an era when cultural barriers between the West and East were still very deep. As a cultural margin, her rough experiences taught her to be tolerant to other cultures. Only by this can we achieve the purpose of cultural exchange and the final cultural integration, promoting the progress of the whole human culture. Her cultural attitude is just the embodiment of cultural relativism, that is, in this world there exist various kinds of cultures, and we should not make a conclusion on all cultures by some kind of rules or principles, because one value is always determined by one culture, and there exist no such values that can transcend cultures.With the help of the theory of cultural relativism, this dissertation intends to find the reason for the formation of Pearl S. Buck's cultural attitude, which inevitably leads to her special translation. By describing her translation process, translation features and the acceptance of her translation in China and the West, this dissertation tries to further explain why her adoption of translation strategies is affected by her cultural attitude. To make the analysis more complete, in the fifth chapter some examples are chosen to study how her cultural attitude is reflected in her translation. This chapter still gives an analysis from the perspective of culture relativism on the great significance of Pearl's translation of All Men Are Brothers on affirming the values of different cultures and the necessity of promoting multi-cultures.Although recently domestic scholars began to reconsider Pearl's translation, no one has studied it from the angle of cultural relativism; what's more, their affirmation on her version is still limited to praising her translation on marinating the identity and the independence of Chinese culture in the exchange of Chinese and Western cultures. Studying Pearl's All Men Are Brothers by cultural relativism can help us deepen our understanding of Pearl the writher and her various works, so we can give a more objective and justified evaluation on her. Meanwhile, I hope in the future studies that we can also be armed with the spirit of cultural relativism,which will be useful for us to study cultural margins like Pearl S. Buck and it is also helpful for us to study how to achieve the harmonious coexistence of cultures.