Study On Literary Translation In Cultural Revolution In China From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

The focus of translation is being shifted to external language research at the moment. It shows that the translation process should not only pay attention to the language conversion, but also take other factors into consideration, such as the culture in the context of target language, history and aesthetic values. With the background of "Cultural turn" in translation studies, this paper attempts to discuss the literary translation during Cultural Revolution in China by means of Andre Lefevere's Manipulation theory.Andre Lefevere, a scholar from Belgium, is one of the main representatives of Manipulation School. This paper mainly introduces his important ideas. He puts the translation activities into the research of cultural system and points out that the main manipulation factors of translation are the ideology, poetics and patron. According to manipulation theory, translation is not to copy, but to rewrite. Ideology, poetics and other factors affect translation activities all the time. Therefore, the selection of translation text, the translation strategy and the publication of the translation largely depend on the ideology, poetics and patronage of the particular period.This paper selects the literary translation during Cultural Revolution period as the research object, and tries to explore how the mainstream ideology, poetics and patronage during this special period decided by the specific historical and social background, manipulate the literary translation from the following aspects:the choice of translation texts, translation strategy, the press condition of translation works, and so on. The result shows that the works translated in this period are mostly from socialist countries which have a friendly relationship with China, most of their themes are about heroic characters and views supporting socialism, the publication of the translation works are controlled by the central government. So a conclusion can be drawn:the literary translation works during Cultural Revolution period is to a great degree manipulated by the social factors, such as the ideology, poetics and patronage. Translation activities are not only limited to the language level, other factors such as culture, politics and history are also to be involved in. However, the study of Cultural translation is only one of the methods of translation studies, the factors that influence literary translation are not only external social and historical factors. The translator's professional and psychological conditions, including the professional competence and personal attitudes, also have direct influence on the translated text. Therefore, to understand the translation phenomena more correctly and objectively needs a more comprehensive view.