Ideological Manipulation In English Translations Of Liaozhaizhiyi-from The Perspective Of Cultural Translation

The influence of globalization is so extensive that it not only affects the field of economy, trade, or the law, but also brings huge impact on cultural study. In accordance with the progress of globalization, the translation studies, once veiled at the periphery, is also ushering its cultural turn. Both eastern and western scholars have realized the indispensable role that translation plays during the collision of east and west culture in the process of globalization. People begin to think more about how translation is implemented under different cultural backgrounds. What kind of influence does the concept of the translator make on the choice of the work? What kind of contribution does translation make in cultural reconstruction and the transformation of society and literature?This thesis takes Liaozhaizhiyi as the research object, chooses three translations which belong to three translators who have totally different backgrounds, makes a comparison between the different methods they have adopted in translating cultural elements from the perspective of cultural translation, then discusses the possible causes of the huge differences, and tries to solve the problems put forward before. Liaozhaizhiyi’s first appearance is momentous in the literature history in our country. In addition to the profound social significance and the distinctive artistic images, its vivid, accurate language and refinement on literary quotations also build the outstanding characteristics of Liaozhaizhiyi, which make it a very high artistic value and described as a masterpiece of Chinese classical novels. Therefore, the English translation of this novel is sure to make foreign readers appreciate the Chinese classical novels, and understand the broad and profound Chinese culture as well. Under the theory of the manipulation school, this thesis studies the manipulation of different translators’ ideology in the English translation. The significance of this thesis is in three aspects: First, it gives an objective evaluation on the selected three English translations of Liaozhaizhiyi, and provides a reference for the future study; Second, it explores the backgrounds of the three translators whose ideology is far from the others, and studies that how the translator’s ideology manipulates the formation of translation in the aspect of cultural translation; Last, through the case study in English translation of Liaozhaizhiyi, it induces the general development of English translation tendency in Chinese classics translation and provides reference and enlightenment for Chinese translators and translation studies.Through the study, the author finds out that the three translators will consider two basic technique during the interpretation of Chinese cultural elements: foreignization and domestication. The differences which are embodied in: Ding Wangdao clings to the basic use of alienation technique and accurate translation, but inferior in building Chinese cultural image; Yang Xianyi’s combination of domestication and foreignization is widely appreciated by Chinese translators and researchers, but inferior in the influence abroad; with a large number of annotation for alienation, Giles widely uses naturalized technique to facilitate understandings of foreign readers. At last, the author draws the conclusion: out of different cultural identities and purposes of translation, translators will produce different ideology of their own when translating Chinese classics, and the translation of cultural interpretation is subject to the influence of this kind of ideology.