A Comparative Study Of The Three Chinese Versions Of Uncle Tom's Cabin From The Perspective Of Translation As Adaptation And Selection

This thesis is a comparative study of the three Chinese versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin based on the theoretical framework of Hu Gengshen's An Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection. The thesis explores translators'adaptation and selection according to different translational eco-environments in different historical periods.Professor Hu Gengshen published An Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection in 2004 in which he applies Darwin's principle of natural selection to translation studies. Within the theoretical framework, professor Hu defines translation as"a selection activity of the translator's adaptation to fit the translational eco-environment". The so-called translational eco-environment includes the world of the source text and the target text, the linguistic, cultural, and social aspects of translating, as well as the author, the client and the readers. He explains the translation process from the perspective of adaptation and selection systematically. He also explores the translator centeredness, the multi-dimensional adaptation and adaptive selection translation principle as well as the three-dimensional transformation translation method. Professor Hu proposes a new perspective on the research of translation process and the translator.Uncle Tom's Cabin written by Mrs. Stowe published in 1852 is a classical literature work famous all over the world. It was first introduced into China by Lin Shu and Wei Yi in classical Chinese in 1901. After the establishment of the Republic of China, Huang Jizhong started to retranslate it in 1956, which has gone through the ten years Cultural Revolution and finally published in 1982. Ever since the reform and opening up policy, Wang Jiaxiang's version of the novel published in 1998 has been considered more representative among several other versions.The three versions were born in three special eras of China: the end of Qing dynasty, the Cultural Revolution and the end of 20th century. Different periods have their typical translational eco-environments. In this case study, the translational eco-environments of the three translators and their adaptation will be analyzed in detail as well as the translators'respective selection will be examined in three aspects: the linguistic dimension, the cultural dimension and the communicative dimension.Through the comparative study, this thesis aims at testifying the feasibility of the theory; exploring translation evaluation criteria from the perspective of the whole translational eco-environment; and justifying the necessity of retranslation of literary works based on the changing translational eco-environment.