On Lin Shu’s Unfaithful Translation From The Perspective Of Polysystem Theory

Lin Shu’s translation, an extraordinary phenomenon in China’s translation history,is greatly worth of researching. Outside Chinese mainland, researches on Lin Shu’stranslation date back to the1940s, which were conducted by Arthur Waley. At present,scholars, especially those from Japan, conduct their researches on Lin Shu’s translationfrom the perspectives of literary criticism and commentariology. And in Chinesemainland, researches on Lin’s translation are mainly conducted from the followingperspectives: its social influence, its language style, the perspective of manipulation.Though a great translator in pre-modern China, Lin Shu is still challenged by some asan "unfaithful" translator. As for this aspect, few have explored its reasons withpolysystem theory. This thesis, starting with the introduction of Lin Shu and his YinbianYanyu, reviews those related studies which is at home and abroad. Then, by choosingYinbian Yanyu as a case study, this thesis would construe Lin Shu’s translation withpolysystem theory, which would have some contributions to the translation study on LinShu.Based on the theoretical framework of Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory, the presentauthor attempts to construe Lin Shu’s so-called "unfaithful" translation from twoperspectives. The first perspective is the influence of various systems on Lin Shu’stranslation in late Qing Dynasty. And the second perspective is the position of translatedliterature within the polysystem in those periods. The present author holds that LinShu’s "unfaithful" translation is influenced by the various systems and the position oftranslated literature in his time. For the purpose of strengthening the explanatory power,the examplification method would be employed when we analyze Lin Shu’s YinbianYanyu from foregoing two perspectives.Finally, the thesis concludes that Lin Shu’s "unfaithful" translation is an inevitablephenomenon under the background of modern China. Therefore, it is unreasonable totab his translation "unfaithful". And some factors are responsible for Lin Shu’s so-called"unfaithful" translation. Influenced by various systems in late Qing Dynasty, Lin Shu, inorder to save the nation and its people, had no choice but to take the "unfaithful"translation strategies to fulfill his historic mission. And those deletion and omission ofthe source texts, rewritings of sub-titles in Yinbian Yanyu are the best illustrations of Lin Shu’s so-called "unfaithful" translation. However, there is also the "faithful" side ofYinbian Yanyu, that is to say, the europeanization phenomena.By using unconsciouslythose new words and europeanized linguistic forms, Lin Shu, in certain aspect, hastranslated the original text with a certain degree of faithfulness. Besides, the position oftranslated literature in late Qing Dynasty would also greatly influence Lin Shu’stranslation practices. The translated literature is in the periphery within the literarysystem in late Qing Dynasty, which forces Lin Shu to adopt domestification-biasedtranslation strategies to conduct his translation practice. Moreover, Lin’s choosing of thetext to be translated is not casually. And most books he chooses are representatives ofcertain advanced ideology. The thesis holds that Lin’s translation is seemingly a betrayalto and deviation from the original text. However, it is indeed greatly faithful to theoriginal works. Or we could say, it is les belles "infideles".