The Translator As Mediator Observed From Lin Shu’s Translation Of The Lady Of The Camellias

Lin Shu was a famous writer and translator in our country. His version of TheLady of the Camellias has had great literary value and research value. And it is thisversion of his that established his position in modern history of Chinese literature andtranslation.Qian Zhongshu, in his essay “On Lin Shu’s Translation”, argues that the beststate of translation is incarnation. And the Chinese Character “囮” has the samemeaning with the western argument of “the translator as mediator/communicator”.The paper will discuss the differences of Lin Shu’s version from the Frenchoriginal and English versions in perspective of “translator as mediator” and QianZhongshu’s essay and illustrates Lin’s role as a mediator.Apart from an introduction and a conclusion, the main body of the thesisincludes four chapters. Chapter1is a literature review of previous comments on LinShu’s translation. Chapter2introduces the connections between the culture andtranslation and clarifies the theoretical basis, that is,“translator as a mediator” in theWest. Chapter3makes a detailed analysis of Lin Shu’s version compared with theFrench original and the English version, analyzing his translation strategies adopted inhis Chinese version of The Lady of the Camellias. Chapter4expounds the role ofintercultural mediator Lin Shu played by taking account of his historical background,his political goal as well as the poetics and readers’ expectations prevalent during histime..