A Study On Translation Strategy Of Interculturality In Lin Yutang’s The Wisdom Of Confucius: The Postcolonial Translation Perspective

Postcolonialism is an academic thought rising in the 1970 s in Western academic fields with a strong political and cultural critique. Postcolonial translation theory mainly pays attention to the power operating mechanism involved when the translation is in the process of decolonization and a series of ensuing history as well, including the hybridity of translation, the identity recognition of translation, cultural hegemony and otherness. In the postcolonial context, translation is a way to dispel cultural hegemony as well as a way to spread and enrich culture. Interculturality which is derived from the “interness” is a cultural philosophical term proposed by the German philosopher Habermas after proposing inter-subjectivity and intertextuality. Interculturality in this thesis refers to the cultural and dialogue relation established by Lin Yutang in the translation. Under the double education of Western culture and Chinese traditional culture, Lin Yutang formed a fusion cultural concept of both two cultures. Such cultural concept is just the reflection of interculturality.Lin Yutang lived in the very time when China was in the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. In the postcolonial context, the dominated traditional Chinese culture was silenced and marginalized, especially the Confucian culture which was the root of feudal domination for thousands of years, met with unprecedented challenge. Lin Yutang, with both Chinese and Western cultural identity, realized that Confucianism met a greater rival. Thus, he edited and translated Confucian classics with the firm belief in the importance and universality of Confucianism and titled The Wisdom of Confucius.This thesis a case study on Lin Yutang?s The Wisdom of Confucius. Based on the postcolonial translation theory, through the analysis of Lin Yutang?s choice of translation strategies in The Wisdom of Confucius, the thesis discusses interculturality in the postcolonial context.This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One is introduction, which mainly introduces the background, the purpose and the significance of the paper as well as thesis structure. Chapter Two is literature review which reviews the studies on Lin Yutang and his works The Wisdom of Confucius as well as early translation studies. Chapter Three focuses on the conception of postcolonial theory and the development of postcolonial translation theory which is the theoretical foundation of this thesis. Chapter Four is the research design, including research questions, the methods and research procedure. Chapter Five is the main body of the thesis, which discusses interculturality in The Wisdom of Confucius in the postcolonial context and illustrates that Lin Yutang adopted different translation strategies and methods to promote the exchange between Chinese and western cultures through the specific examples. Chapter six is the conclusion of this thesis.Through analysis, this thesis draws a conclusion as follows: first of all, in the process of editing and translating The Wisdom of Confucius, Lin Yutang strived for equal communication and dialogue between China and the West, which was the reflection of intercultural features. What?s more, Lin Yutang adopted different translation methods which showed his resistance to Western cultural hegemony, and he molded Chinese cultural identity, enhanced the position of Chinese Confucianism and developed an equal dialogue between Chinese and Western cultures through translation. Last but not the least, in the postcolonial context, translation wields enormous power in constructing representations of foreign cultures, but is simultaneously engaged in the formation of domesticate identities.