On The Back Translation Of Chinese American Literature

Ever since the1980s, Chinese American literature has begun to enter the scope of mainstream literature in America. Also because of its inseparable relations with China and Chinese culture, it has attracted more and more attention in Chinese academia, with a multitude of Chinese translations, relevant research papers and monographs being published. However, most of the studies of Chinese American literature in China are done by scholars for literary purposes, with few intended for translation studies. As the most prominent translation phenomenon in the E-C (English to Chinese) translation of Chinese American literature, back translation has not been extensively noticed or systematically studied yet.Out of this consideration, this thesis aims to intensively and systematically study the back translation of Chinese American literature, taking a representative novel, The Joy Luck Club, as the object of case study. This thesis combines theoretical elaborations with case study. Firstly, theoretical elaborations of both Chinese American literature and back translation are provided as the foundation. Then, typical examples of back translation-selected form four complete Chinese versions and three independent translated excerpts of The Joy Luck Club-are classified, presented and comparatively analyzed to show what are the major sources of back translation in Chinese American literature, whether prevailing back translation methods can meet the requirement of faithfulness in literary translation, and what should be noticed and improved in future back translation practice of Chinese American literature.Through comparative analyses, all the three research questions have been satisfyingly answered. Firstly, the two distinctive features in the language of Chinese American literature-linguistic hybridity and cultural hybridity-are the major sources of back translation. Secondly, many inspiring back translation methods have been practiced, yet some weak points are hard to avoid:a few translators fail to keep the consistency of back translation method in his/her version of translation; for the back translation of linguistic hybridity, many different methods have been practiced yet none of them is satisfyingly faithful; for the back translation of cultural hybridity, some translators ignore necessary information or certain linguistic features in the source text, some translators have not done enough research on correspondent Chinese cultural knowledge, and some translators improperly rectify the author’s "distortion" of Chinese culture or improperly omit certain Chinese culture-specific elements. Thirdly, for future back translation practice, the back translation method for one kind of linguistic phenomenon should be consistent in a single version of translation. For future back translation of linguistic hybridity, two methods of back translation can be practiced-retaining the original pinyin in the source text (without adding its Chinese correspondent in parenthesis), and domestication translation of non-standard English together with notes for explanation; for future back translation of cultural hybridity, translators should follow three requirements-be faithful to the source text, be faithful to Chinese culture, and be faithful to the hybrid cultural identity of the author.Altogether, this thesis gives clear definition, classification and presentation of the back translation materials in Chinese American literature, which, to some extent, makes up for former unsystematic and incomprehensive studies of back translation. Through comparing and analyzing different back translation methods, this thesis finds out both their merits and weak points, thus providing practical suggestions for future back translation of Chinese American literary works.