A Contrastive Study Of The Two English Versions Of Lao Can You Ji From The Perspective Of Postcolonial Translation Theory

Postcolonial translation theory is the hot focus under the research context of cultural turn. Recently its research value is reflected day by day, because it aims to achieve the dialogue between western and eastern cultures to have a positive effect on multicultural communication.Lao Can You Ji is one of the four novels of denunciation in late Qing-dynasty. Its high artistic achievements and rich cultural information provide a research platform for the postcolonial translation theory into practice. Based on this theory, the thesis makes a contrastive study of the two versions of Lao Can You Ji from the micro and macro aspects to analyze the strategies adapted by the two translators in dealing with style and culture of the original text, and discusses the theory's conscious or unconscious influence on the two translators during the process of translation. Therefore, it is not difficult to find that they try their best to preserve the original characteristics of Chinese culture, but the relative loss of style and culture is inevitable and Shadick's loss is more than Yang's. Of course, a certain loss is to consider the target readers'interest and acceptability to well transmit Chinese traditional culture and achieve the aim of the cultural exchange. At last, the thesis points to the limitation of the study and indicates that the cultural exchange should be carried out without the loss of cultural identity.To some degree, this tentative case study greatly proves the possibilities of postcolonial translation theory at practical level and the author hopes that more and more people pay their attention to the study of classical novel and its versions to enrich the research results of the combination translation theory and practice.