On The Chinese Translation Of Living History From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

Living History is the memoir of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former First lady of the U.S. This book hit the bestseller list in the U.S. once published. So did its Chinese version in China.Manipulation School rose to prominence during the1980s, when scholars began to address the myriad aspects of translated texts and its cultural background. They hold that translation studies should shift attention onto culture aspects. And Andre Lefevere, as one of the most important representatives of Manipulation School, argues that translation as an act of rewriting is largely influenced by three factors, i.e. ideology, patronage and poetics.This thesis attempts to compare and analyze Hillary’s original version and Chinese version, translated by Pan Xun, of Living History within the framework of Andre Lefevere’s Rewriting Theory. Its purpose is to reveal the impact of literary system as well as ideology, patronage and poetics of target country on text selection and translation strategies so as to identify the influence of these factors over translation processes and the cultural difference between China and the U.S.Through a comparative study of the original text and target text aiming at a thorough understanding of the impact each factors abovementioned upon translation, the study seeks to demonstrate that cultural differences and the power of patronage between ST country and TT country have significant influences on selecting original text and on shaping translators to rewrite the original text during translation processes in order that the translated version be accepted by target country and readers.Therefore, researchers should, while analyzing texts, take cultural factors into consideration so as to make sustained comments on translated texts.