| Traditional translation theory regards translation as a transformation between two different languages. It mainly focuses on the comparison of source and target texts, taking "faithfulness" as the criterion of translating practice. However, translation is not only a transformation between two different languages, it is a cross-cultural activity. There is an invisible hand (Wang Dongfeng,2003:16) hiding behind translation, manipulating translating practice invisibly.In Andre Lefevere’s opinion, there are three elements that constrain the process of translation:ideology, poetics and patronage. He puts translation studies in a broader context of social culture. He regards translation as rewriting which shows the manipulation of ideology and poetics to translating practices. The selection of the source text and the decision making of strategies are all influenced by ideology. The ideological element exists all the time.Hu Shi is the advocator and leader of the New Culture Movement. He is also the pioneer of vernacular poetry and vernacular poetry theory. He is the first one who adopted vernacular to translate poems. His poetry translation is influenced by the social ideology at that time, experiencing the transformation of subjects, language and styles. Meanwhile, his poetry translation played a great role in the construction of social ideology and poetics in China in that time.This thesis adopts a descriptive approach to analyze the influences of ideology on Hu Shi’s translating motives, the selection of the source text and the strategies he adopted, as well as the role of Hu Shi’s poetry translation to the construction of social ideology and poetics. Here ideology involves both translator’s individual ideology and the dominant ideology of the society. |
