A Critique Of Two Versions Of Looking Backward:2000-1887

The book Looking Backward:2000-1887written by Edward Bellamy publishedin1889is a very important American utopian novel. It has been successivelytranslated into Germany, French, Italian, Russian, Bulgarian, Arabic, and Chinese etc.after its publication. Until now, six versions of Looking Backward:2000-1887havecome into being in China. However, more research on those versions is still urgentlyneeded. So in this essay, Hui Tou Kan Ji Lue translated by Timothy Richard and CaiErkang and Hui Gu translated by Lin Tiandou and Zhang Zimou have been chosen tobe compared under the guidance of the Norm Theory.In the1980s, based on Even Zohar’s Polysystem Theory and James S. Holmes’translation research, Gideon Toury first put forward translational norm theory. Touryis trying to find the law of translation by analyzing the norms followed by translatorsand the specific constraining factors affecting translators’ decision at every level oftranslation. According to Toury, the translation norms can be divided into initialnorms, preliminary norms, and operational norms. Norms feature in their multiplicity.Following Toury, scholars including Andre Chesterman, Theo Hermans, andChristiane Nord etc. have made unremitting efforts to fulfill and improve the normtheory. Chesterman proposed the “memes” of culture as norms. He divided norms intotwo categories: product norms and process norms. Hermans elaborated a lot on thenature of translation norms and proposed several significant suggestions for studyingnorms. Nord put forward constitutive norms and regulative norms. All theseresearches complement each other and form the main body of the Norm Theory.In this essay, choices of the source text about the two versions have been firstlyelaborated in terms of social background, readers’ expectation, and translators’ choiceof the source text. Hui Tou Kan Ji Lue came into being in the Late Qing Dynasty tosave the nation and enlighten the people. Hui Gu, translated by Lin Tiandou andZhang Zimou was produced in the1960s to serve the need of socialist construction ofthe New China. Then, detailed comparative study of translation strategies was carried out with specific examples. Hui Tou Kan Ji Lue features in its mass rewritings,changes of narrative pattern as well as the domestication strategy, while Hui Gucharacterized in complete translation of the source text, reservation of narrativepattern and foreignization strategy. At last, detailed research is dedicated to thecomparative study of linguistic characteristics and stylistic features of the twoversions.The introduction and application of the Norm Theory has not only supplied uswith new theoretical principles to guide translators’ decisions in translation practice,but also provided us with new theoretical tools to find out the constraining factorsbehind those decisions.