A Study Of Lin Shu’s Translation Of Ivanhoe From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

Lin Shu, an outstanding translator in the history of Chinese translated literature,translated more than180foreign literary works with the aid of his collaborators.Among his translated novels, Sakexun Jiehou Yingxiong Lue was regarded as one ofhis best translations. Translated from Ivanhoe, a famous historical novel written byEnglish writer Sir Walter Scott, this translation once received warm welcome fromand exerted considerable influence on some famous Chinese writers like Mao Dunand Guo Moruo. However, it was once hastily criticized as an unfaithful translation.This thesis attempts to investigate Lin Shu’s translation of this novel from theperspective of Lefevere’s manipulation theory. As translation does not take place inany vacuum but in a complex historical and cultural context, the thesis examines thistranslation in terms of ideology, patronage and poetics. In the aspect of ideology, thethesis firstly discusses the dominant ideology of the late Qing Dynasty and Lin Shu’sindividual ideology, which are reflected in the choice of the source text, patriotism,morality, customs, religions, and titles; then in the aspect of patronage, the reformistsand the Commercial Press as Lin Shu’s main patrons are examined to explore howthey exercised their power in the choice of the source text, the remuneration andproofreading of Lin’s translation; and finally in the aspect of poetics, the dominantpoetics in the late Qing Dynasty, Lin Shu’s individual poetics and readers’ expectationare observed to see how they constrained the choice of the source text, the choice ofclassical Chinese language, narrative structure, description and metaphors. Throughthe detailed analysis with abundant examples, the thesis believes that rather thancondemning Lin Shu’s translation as unfaithful, it is more constructive to inquire intosuch macro-factors concerning Lin Shu’s translation as history, politics, culture,patronage and poetics and to analyze from the micro-perspective of linguistics for abetter understanding of his translation strategy of this translated novel.