A Call For Revolution In Disguise

Late Q ing period witnessed the natio nal salvation in literature front and the prosperity of pseudotranslation. Upon the national crisis, the Chinese intellectuals voluntarily took pen as their weapon to write or translate. As a typical pseudotranslation, Free Marriage was written by a revolutionist Zhan Zhaotong in this period. It was claimed to be written by a Jewish man John C. Vancouver and published as a translated novel.Although Free Marriage is frequently regarded as a typical pseudotranslation in relative research, almost no studies of proving its pseudotransltion identity has ever seen at present. This thesis, however, reveals its pseudotranslation identity through historical documents and textual evidence.This thesis summarizes two main causes of disguising Free Marriage as pseudotranslation, the boom of translated novels and the strict censorship in Late Q ing period. By hiding themselves behind a pseudonym, the pseudotranslator intends to maximize the enlightenment function of the novels by making use of the more lenient attitude towards translated novels.The successful disguises remain to be one of the focuses of this research. This thesis analyzes the disguising strategies from the textual level and paratextual level. On the textual level, there are three kinds of strategies: firstly, to make up the original writer and the translator: Vancouver and Liberty Flower; secondly, to fabricate their life story; thirdly, to describe their encounter in detail. At the paratextual level, this thesis finds out four types of disguising strate gies. First of all, the pseudotranslator offered some fictitious publication information. Then he wrote a preface under the name of translator. In addition, he offered a postscript to prove the existence of the pseudotranslator. Lastly, he employed some head notes to remind the reader of the novel?s translation identity.The disguising strategies were designed for the pseudotranslator?s writing motives. This thesis analyzes his writing motives and strategies to realize those motives. By taking the strategies of naming, role shaping and innuendo, Zhang Zhaotong aimed to help his countrymen to foster of a clear understanding of the current political situation. As he suggested, C hinese could never get any fundamental change from the domestic regime and external forces. He called for revolution and opposed reformism, arguing that revolution is the only path to build an independent China.