A Study Of Lin Shu’s Translation Of Joan Haste From The Perspective Of The Approach To Translation As Adaptation And Selection

Lin Shu is an outstanding translator in late Qing and early Min who translatedone hundred and seventy or eighty kinds of foreign novels during his lifetime. LinShu’s translations of foreign novels are in conformity with the needs of the politics,the society and the readers. Therefore, his translations have been quite popular withreaders in China and have contributed a lot to Chinese society and Chinese culture.However, as his unfaithfulness to the original, his translations were once questionedand even criticized. Fortunately, under the influence of culture turn in translationstudies, people begin to study Lin Shu’s translations from diversified perspectives,giving a proper account for his unfaithfulness and setting off a new upsurge ofstudying Lin Shu’s translations.In the context of culture turn in translation studies, Hu Gengshen, professor inTsinghua University, applies “adaptation” and “selection” first proposed by Darwininto translation studies and puts forward the approach to translation as adaptation andselection which focuses on the “translator-centeredness”. From the perspective of thetranslator, Hu defines translation “as a translator’s adaptation and selection activitiesin a translational eco-environment.” In the process of translation, the translator shouldadapt and select. Meanwhile, according to the approach to translation as adaptationand selection, Hu Gengshen makes new explorations on translation process,translation method and the criteria for the evaluation of translation.This thesis makes a comprehensive study about Lin Shu’s translation of JoanHaste in the light of the approach to translation as adaptation and selection, exploringLin Shu’s adaptations and selections in the translational eco-environment. Meanwhile,according to the criteria for the evaluation of translation of the approach to translationas adaptation and selection, this thesis points out that Lin Shu’s translation of JoanHaste is a translation with a higher degree of holistic adaptation and selection.Besides, through the application of the approach to translation as adaptation andselection in translation studies, this thesis aims that more scholars may pay close attention to and actively push for the development of Chinese Translation Theory.