On Translation And Acceptance Of Charlie And The Chocolate Factoty In China From1980to2004

Children literature (CL) has long been placed in a peripheral position in literaturesystem. And previous studies on CL translation are rare and random, and mostly onthe text level. In the new century, the wide and deep exploration with Even-Zohar’spolysystem theory, Bassnett’s cultural turn theory and Lefevere’s rewriting theory inChina gave the studies in children literature translation a new direction. CL translationstudies began to adopt synchronic study method to explore the CL translation situationduring a particular period, or diachronic method to analyze different versions of asame original text. Both methods are trying to explore the complicated translationprocess through the aspects of ideology and dominant poetics.This paper takes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as an example and adoptsEven-Zohar’s and Lefevere’s theory to explore its translation process from1980to2004. Although Charlie is now well-known among Chinese readers, it was not alwaysfavored by the dominant poetics throughout its whole translation process in China.And the reason lies in the different understanding of the function of children literature.Dahl believed that the sole aim of writing a children novel was to bring pure fun toyoung readers. Nevertheless, in China, educational function has long been the onlyfocus in children literature. It’s until late1990s that aesthetic function, includingfeatures of fun, humor and horror, began to exert influence and gradually but slowlywon recognition. Besides the poetics factor, ideological and economic factors alsoplayed dominant roles in different stages of Charlie’s translation and translationprocess.The study shows that during Charlie’s translation process in China, it wasideology that exerted the dominant influence at first, which resulted in the firsttranslation version in1980. Then during1980s and early1990s, changing poeticsbecame the decisive factor, as ideology remained unchanged during that time. Duringthis period, Charlie was seldom translated in early1980s, then after1988severalpublishing houses successively chose to translate it, which produced Charlie’s first blooming period in China. Later in early1990s, Charlie’s translation process wasvirtually at a standstill along with the whole literature activities due to the impact offorming market. And in late1990s, Charlie remained unpopular due to lack ofpropelling force to recognize the value of humor and joy in children literature. It’suntil21stcentury when publishing houses are able to operate in a matured marketeconomy that Charlie gained a second chance. Economic profits became thepropelling power for Charlie’s further translation.As to the rewriting in Charlie’s five available versions, it is caused by thetranslators’ different understanding of educational function and aesthetical function inchildren literature and their different understanding of the original text.