Ku Hungming's Translation Of Lun Yu: A Rewriting Under The Theory Of Manipulation

Being an influential literary figure as well as translator in the late Qing Dynasty, Ku Hungming is reputed together with Yan Fu and Lin Shu as "The Three Elitists of Fujian Province". When most of the Chinese intellects turned to the West to import Western science, technology, culture and thoughts, Ku Hungming tried his best to introduce Chinese traditional culture, especially Confucianism, to the West and became a pioneer of translating the Chinese classics into English. Ku's English versions of Confucian classics Lun Yu and Zhong fong enable Western readers to understand the essence of Chinese culture and exert great influence on the West.Ku's English version of Lun Yu changed the situation that the Christian missionaries and Western sinologists monopolized the dissemination of Confucianism and wrongly created China's image. However, in order to appeal to Western readers for their good acceptance of his translation, he made many rewritings of the original and used numbers of phrases and terms under Western philosophical concepts to make annotations for Chinese cultural classics and Confucianism. Thus, his translation of Lun Yu is "unfaithful" if judged by the principle of equivalence assumed in the traditional translation theories. Since the "Cultural Turn" in translation studies, more attention has been paid to the relationship between translation and politics, culture and ideology in the receiving society. This new perspective can help us understand the complicated causes behind his unique translation of Lun Yu. So the thesis attempts to give a reasonable explanation of Ku's translation of Lun Yu from Andre Lefevere's theory of manipulation and rewriting.Besides the introduction and conclusion, the thesis is divided into four chapters. The introduction of the thesis consists of the motivation and significance, questions under consideration and the methodology of the research. In Chapter 1, Confucius and Lun Yu, Ku Hungming and his translation of Lun Yu are briefly introduced, the previous comments and studies on Ku's translation of Lun Yu are reviewed and the theoretical framework of this thesis is proposed---Andre Lefevere's theory of manipulation and rewriting. Chapter 2 first briefly introduces the "manipulation school" and then elaborates Andre Lefevere's theory of manipulation and rewriting. It is also pointed out that translation is a process of the translator's manipulating and being manipulated because of the involvement of the translator's subjectivity. Chapter 3 is the analysis of Ku's choosing to translate Lun Yu manipulated by his particular ideology. First, the dominant ideology in China at Ku's time is introduced. Then, the author elaborates Ku's particular ideology. Finally, the author analyses Ku's purpose of choosing to translate. Chapter 4 makes a detailed discussion of the rewriting in Ku's translation of Lun Yu under the manipulation of ideology and poetics. The conclusion summarizes the thesis:Ku's unique translation activity mainly results from the interaction between his particular ideology and the manipulation of the dominant ideology and poetics in the West at Ku's time. On the one hand, his choosing to translate Lun Yu into English results from his anti-manipulation against the dominant ideology influenced by his particular ideology; on the other hand, his rewriting of the original is the result of being manipulated by the dominant ideology and poetics in the West. Thus, Ku's translation of Lun Yu is a process of his manipulating the original to achieve his special translation purpose and bsing manipulated by the dominant ideology and poetics in the West.