An Exploration Into Evan King’s Translation Of Luotuo Xiangzi From A Postcolonial Perspective

Luotuo Xiangzi is one of the most famous literary works Lao She has ever created.Set in the late1920s, the novel describes the tragic life of a rickshaw puller in Beijing,through which the writer exposed and slashed the ruling class·s exploitation on theworking class in China, and extended his deepest sympathy to the latter. With the titleRickshaw Boy, an American sinologist named Evan King translated Luotuo Xiangzi andhad it published in1945, causing a great sensation in America. His version RickshawBoy immediately won popularity and became a best seller in the Book of the MonthClubμ in New York. Success of this book attracted both praises and criticisms. Somehold the view that the great popularity in America proves a good translation because itmanaged to convey the Chinese elements to his readers like a ship. Some considerRickshaw Boy a trophy of Evan King, who appears as an aggressor and invader to theoriginal novel, and rebuke the plot addition, alteration and deletion found in histranslation and regarding it as irresponsible behaviors. As a translator, what kind of roleis Evan King playing in translation, an invader or a protector? Is he a conscientioustranslator or an irresponsible one?With its focus on power, identity and cultural hegemony, postcolonial theoryentered the arena of history in the1970s. With foreignness and alienation translation asits weapon, postcolonial translation theory pays attention to and shows concerns ondifferenceμ to topple the hegemonic position of mainstream cultures and achieve theaim of equal communications between diversified cultures.With Rickshaw Boy as the research object, this thesis takes advantage ofpostcolonial theory and methods of comparison between English and Chinese toconduct an all-round analysis on text and historical facts. On such a basis, the writer ofthis thesis argues that, to a large extent, King is a responsible translator with greatcarefulness in translation of almost every Chinese element in the likes of appellations,cursing words, syntactical structures, and rhythm of sentence, and so forth. Featuringforeignness, strangeness and hybridity, his translation strategies succeeded inintroducing Chinese cultures and contributed largely to the success of Rickshaw Boy. However, it should also be noted that King·s manipulation over the original in plotaddition, alteration and deletion is undeniable. It·s a reflection of his arbitrariness andnegligence of duty, which should be avoided. Additionally, it is found that King, as atranslator, showed an obvious subjectivity in text selection and in translation strategies.Lexically and syntactically, King tried his utmost to retain the cultural characteristicsand syntactic structuresofChinese, resultingin aclear featureof hybridityμ.Textually,a large number of images are reserved and even sometimes created to facilitate a betterunderstandingofChinaanditsculture.Yet,plotchangesarefoundinKing·stranslation,bringing about massive criticisms. It is, in essence, a reflection of overexertion oftranslator·s subjectivity, of which we should be wary.The aim of translation lies in communication and pursuit of differenceμ, not thesameness or interpretation. After analyzing pros and cons of King·s translation, thisthesis argues that respect for the source language culture is the preposition of effectivelyexploiting translator·s subjectivity for good translations and further promotion ofcultural communications and that overemphasizing subjectivity is no less than invasion,it does harm to cultural diversification and impedes cultural exchanges. As fortranslation of Chinese literary works, King·s translation taught us a lesson: translationshould carry differenceμ and at the same time dodge ethnocentrism. And as fortranslator·s subjectivity, we should treat it dialectically—giving consideration to boththe active side and the passive side of it.This thesis is composed of the following chapters.Chapter One introduces the original text and as well as its two English translations,reviews previous studies on Rickshaw Boy, explains the research methods adopted andpresents value and significance of this thesis.Chapter Two explores principal representatives and core ideas of postcolonialismand postcolonial translation theories.Chapter Three centers on translator·s subjectivity. The first half of this chapter isabout discussions on concepts and connotations of translator·s subjectivity; the secondhalf is an analysis on King·s subjectivity in the process of translation.Chapter Four analyzes the nature and aim of alienation translation in a postcolonial context, and King·s translation strategies lexically and syntactically.Chapter Five explores the cultural value of King·s translation and its significanceto the international popularization of Chinese. Besides, limitations of this thesis andresearch plan for further study are pointed out.