A Comparative Study Of Two English Versions Of The Analects Of Confucius Under The Perspective Of Foucault’s Power And Discourse Theory

With the advancement of the strategy of culture dissemination, the overseastransmission of Chinese culture attracts more and more attention. As one of therepresentatives of Chinese masterpiece, the English translation of The Analects ofConfucius is striking. However, most of the researches focus on linguistic and culturalstudies. Few of them have made comparative studies of its different versions byputting them under a wider social and cultural context and historical background. Onthe basis of Foucault’s Power and Discourse Theory, this paper makes a comparativestudy of two English versions of The Analects of Confucius in terms of linguistic andextralinguistic factors, and analyzes how power manipulates the translation of thework.According to Foucault, power is ubiquitous, composed of all kinds of dominatingand controlling powers. This thesis selects two versions of The Analects of Confucius-one translated by Ku Hung-ming and published in1898, and the other translated byD.C. Lau and published in1979. The thesis falls into three chapters. The first chapterprovides an overview of The Analects of Confucius, its translation and relatedresearch. The second chapter studies the manipulation in the translation ofculture-loaded words at the linguistic level. Then the third chapter analyzes the powermanipulation of different historical backgrounds and the individual power discoursesfrom an extralinguistic angle. The two versions were translated under different socialbackgrounds, translation purposes, and the translators manifested different strategies.All are the results of power manipulation.The theory of power and discourse provides a new angle for translation studiesand also broadens the scope of studying the English translation of The Analects ofConfucius.