| Sidney Shapiro (1915-), born in Brooklyn, New York, of Jewish ethnicity is a well-known translator in contemporary China. Fascinated by Chinese culture, he began to translate Chinese literature into English in the early1950s shortly after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In his long and fruitful translation career that has extended over50years, Sidney Shapiro dedicated himself to introducing China to the world. For his outstanding work in helping people overseas learn about China’s past and present, and for his remarkable achievements in Chinese literary translation, Sidney Shapiro was awarded Translators’ Association of China’s Lifetime Achievement Award in December,2010, becoming the first laureate of this award born outside China. In April2011, he was awarded the You Bring Charm to the World Award.Academic attention to Sidney Shapiro as a translator started in1980s and has gained remarkable momentum since then. However, most current researches are concentrated on his translation of Outlaws of the Marsh, and there is a deplorable lack of in-depth study of his translation of modern Chinese literature that helped spread contemporary Chinese culture and prevailing ideology to the outside world. It is felt that a systematic study of some of his other translation works may not only help deepen the appreciation of the great translator’s achievements in literary translation, but also throw much light on current translation research and practice.It is based upon this supposition that this thesis, from the perspective of Andre Lefevere’s theory of ideological manipulation, assumes Sidney Shapiro’s translation of three famous novels, which are Young Blacky’s Marriage, Spring Silkworms and The Shop of the Lin Family, as research material to explore the translation strategies that he adopted under the influence of the then prevailing cultural and ideological background. By combing Sidney Shapiro’s translation practice and thoughts, the author attempted to analyze the translation strategies he has taken under the control of ideology through three cases study. This thesis thus represents an effort to study Sidney Shapiro as a great translator in a relatively systematic manner for the purpose of highlighting his role in both the Chinese translation history and the cultural exchange.This thesis is divided into five parts.Chapter One is an introduction which offers the purpose, significance and the structure of the thesis.Chapter Two gives a brief introduction to Sidney Shapiro’s life and woks with special emphasis on the important role he played in literary translation in China.Chapter Three provides a literature review that gives a brief account on the related research in China. Besides, this chapter provides a brief introduction to the manipulation theory.Chapter Four focuses on the application of the manipulation theory to the analysis of Sidney Shapiro’s translation of the three novels. First this chapter presents a brief introduction to the three classic novels. Then examples are cited to illustrate the influences of ideology, both social and personal, on Sidney Shapiro’s translation to support the author’s point. This chapter in addition explores the strategies the translator has taken in translation, which can be concluded as adaptation, omission, domestication, and foreignization. Finally this chapter analyzes translated texts from the perspectives of language and culture.Chapter Five is the conclusion, which presents major findings, implications, and suggestions for further Research.This thesis draws the conclusion that Sidney Shapiro’s translation practice and theorization have played an important role in modern literary translation in China. In the translation process, taking into consideration mainstream ideologies of both the source and the target languages, and numerous other social and cultural factors, Sidney Shapiro flexibly and aptly adopts different translation techniques that effectively enhance the acceptability of his translation. |
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