The Position Of Translated Literature And The Selection Of Translation Strategies

The selection of translator’s translation strategies is closely correlated with the social, historical and cultural context of a certain period in which the translator lived.If we put the translated text in a vacuum, ignore its historical and cultural background and evaluate it purely from the perspective of lexical and syntactical level, the meaning conveyed by the translator is likely to be distorted and an inappropriate evaluation might be given to the text. After the occurrence of “cultural turn” in the field of translation studies. Many scholars have involved some other factors outside the text into their research scope and came up with many new translation theories.The polysystem theory which was formulated by Even-Zohar has far-reaching influences. It has expanded the research field of translation studies by means of combining factors like the social background, the cultural context and the historical condition, etc. into translation studies.According to Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory(1990), there is a close relationship between the translated literature’s position within the literary polysystem and the translator’s selection of translation strategies in a given period. Even-Zohar held that when the translated literature takes the central position, the translating activity is inclined to act as an innovative force and imports new thoughts and literary modes. On this presupposition, the translator will break the native literature norms to keep his or her translation “adequate” with the source text. While, when the translated literature assumes the peripheral position, the translator tends to give weight to the“acceptance” of his or her translation and find an optimal secondary mode for the source text.This thesis conducts a detailed analysis of the relationship between the position of translated literature and the selection of translation strategies proposed by Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory by means of a comparison of two Chinese translated versions of Buck’s The Good Earth. Primarily, the thesis analyzes translated literature’s different positions in the literary polysystem and different prevailingtranslation strategies in the 1930 s and the early 21 stCentury. Then, a comparison of translation strategies is presented through Hu Zhongchi’s(1935) and Wang Fengzhen’s(2010) version of The Good Earth. Through the comparison and analysis,this thesis analyzes the relationship between the position of translated literature and the selection of translation strategies, as well as whether polysystem theory can reasonably explain different phenomena of literary translation during different periods.It is concluded that the translated literature’s different positions in the literary polysystem have different influences upon the translation strategies selected by translators. Besides, polysystem theory has created a new vision into translation studies, which makes translation studies more comprehensive and persuasive.