A Study Of Rexroth’s English Translation Of Li Ch’ing-chao’s Poems From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

In1992, Andre Lefevere pointed out in his book Translation Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame that all translations are rewritings, and he elaborated the manipulation of ideology, poetics and patrons on translation by citing lots of examples. This theory provides a new perspective for translation studies, which can explain why the translator chooses a certain text and rewrites it in some way so as to make it a success in the receiving culture.Kenneth Rexroth is a well-known poet and translator in modern American society, and he wrote and translated many poems all through his life. He all together translated four collections of Chinese poems, respectively One Hundred Poems from the Chinese (1959), Love and the Turning Year:One Hundred More Poems from the Chinese (1970), The Orchid Boat:Women poets of China (1972) and Li Ch’ing-chao:Complete Poems (1979). After publication, these translations were well received among readers. They were selected as text book materials in college and had a great impact on American culture. However, when comparing the original with the translation, the author finds that Rexroth’s translation is a kind of rewriting to a large extent. There are differences in many levels between the original text and the translation, such as meaning, image building, and style. For this reason, this thesis intends to study Rexroth’s translation of Li Ch’ing-chao’s poems from Lefevere’s Rewriting theory, exploring the reasons for differences between the source text and the target text.This thesis is based on Rewriting theory and analyzes Rexroth’s translation of Li Ch’ing-chao’s poems in six chapters. Chapter One introduces the research background, significance and layout of the thesis, raising questions to be solved in this paper and giving the research methods to be employed. Chapter Two goes over previous studies on English translations of Li’s works and the translator Rexroth. Chapter Three introduces the theoretical basis, including the major concepts to be involved and the way they influence translation. Chapter Four briefly introduces Li Ch’ing-chao’s works and their translations to lay a foundation for the following analysis. Chapter Five is the body part of the thesis. It makes a systematic and in-depth study on Rexroth’s translation of Li Ch’ing-chao’s works. By analyzing Rexroth’s selection of poems, reproduction of meaning and style, and inconsistence in forms and language, this part discusses how ideology, poetics and patronage influence Rexroth’s translation of Li Ch’ing-chao’s poems, and points out that his translation is a typical example of rewriting. After a review of the above analysis, Chapter Six comes to conclusion that it is the "beat generation" culture, the New Poetry Movement, the Feminism Movement, and Rexroth’s preference of oral language and free verse that deeply influenced Rexroth’s rewriting of Li Ch’ing-chao’s works. Meanwhile, these factors also help explain the success and canonization of the translations in the US.