The Position Of Translated Literature And The Selection Of Translational Policies

Translation studies traditionally deal with the transition of the linguistic level inthe development process of translation studies, which put particular emphasis on thecomparative study between the original text and the translated text. However, moreand more scholars have involved a lot of other factors outside the text into theresearch scope since the occurrence of “cultural turn” in the translation studies.Among those translation theories, Polysystem theory completed by Even-Zohar hasfar-reaching influences. Polysystem theory has involved several factors into thetranslation studies such as the cultural context, the social background and thehistorical condition, which has expanded the field of translation studies largely.The thesis makes an analysis of the position of translated literature and theselection of translational policies proposed by Polysystem theory through acomparison of two Chinese versions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Firstly, the thesis analyzesthe positions of translated literatures in the whole literary polysystems at the end ofQing Dynasty and in the1990s as well as the translational policies that should beadopted according to Polysystem theory. Secondly, the actual translational policiesadopted by two translators are presented through the comparative study between LinShu’s version and Wang Jiaxiang’s version. Through the comparison between theactual translational policies and the proposed translational polices, the thesis analyzeswhether Polysystem theory is reasonable enough to explain translational phenomena.Through the analysis, it is concluded that Polysystem theory has created a new vision into the translation studies and made the translation studies more and morecomprehensive and persuasive. However, Polysystem theory is not perfect. It still haslimitations. The main limitation stated in this thesis is that Polysystem theory onlyconcerns for the objective elements and ignores the subjective elements of thetranslator. It is hoped that there are more and more theses on Polysystem theory. Then,the translation theory can be improved and further guides the translation practice.