A Comparative Study On The Factors Manipulating The Two Chinese Translations Of And Then There Were None

Agatha Christie, known as "Queen of Crime", was one of the most famous detective novel writers all over the world. Her novels have received warm welcome since their publication. In her life, she has produced a large number of famous works, among which, And Then There Were None was one of her masterpieces.With so great reputation, Christie’s works have triggered little interest of scholars at home. Some researches about her works, if any, have only focused on their artistic value, while seldom on the translation itself. This thesis aims to make contributions to this aspect and make a comparative study of the two Chinese translations of And Then There Were None with Lefevere’s Manipulation Theory as the theoretical framework. In this theory, Lefevere put forward that there are three factors manipulating the production of the translations:poetics, patronage and ideology. This thesis will investigate how these three factors manipulate two Chinese translations of And Then There Were None.Through the comparison, the thesis draws a conclusion that patronage, poetics, and ideology will all play a great role in manipulating the translations. Moreover, the three factors:patronage, poetics, and ideology do not manipulate the translator independently. On the contrary, they take effect interdependently. Among the three factors, ideology, especially the political ideology, tends to stand out and often put requirements on the other two, especially on the patronage. The opener and more tolerant the political ideology, the more freedom and authority the patronage will enjoy, and vice versa. Moreover, in peace time, patronage and translators tend to observe the requirement of the dominant ideology. However, during the war time, especially the war between one culture and another, patronage and translators will not completely stand in the same line with the dominant ideology.