A Comparison Of Three English Versions Of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi-viewed From A Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Liao Zhai Zhi Yi holds the important status in the Chinese novel history; it is the peak of literary short stories of our country. At the same time, in the worldwide scale, it was also a beautiful flower in the world classical literature of 17 and 18th century. Whatever from the content or from its writing style, it enjoys a great reputation and was regarded as treasure of all the human beings.This thesis tends to make a comparative study of three English versions of Liaozhai, namely, Strange Stories from the Make-do Studio by Denis.C & Victor H. Mair, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Join Minford and Selected Stories of LiaoZhaiZhiYi by Tom Te-Wu Ma within the framework of skopostheorie, in the hope of revealing how and to what extent translation purpose affects the choice of translation strategy and translation method.Examined from a perspective of skopos theory, those three versions have all realized their translation purposes to a large extent, though they cannot be labeled as complete and perfect or even as good from a traditional point of view.