On Liu Bannong's Translation Of An Embassy To China From The Perspective Of Bourdieu's Sociology Theory

Liu Bannong is a famous writer in the period of modern transition of Chinese literature. His unique style of literature creation and multiple literary activities were related to popular literature, folk literature, and the literature of May 4th. His contribution to novel translation is often neglected;therefore, it is necessary to study his works of translation.Bourdieu was a famous French sociologist, anthropologist and philosopher. The sociology concepts of field and habitus he proposed have been increasingly applied to translation studies. The application of sociology concepts in translation studies offers more angles for explaining translation activities and reaching more reasonable and adequate conclusions. This paper attempts to take Bourdieu's concepts of field and hiatus as the theoretical framework, with the intention of explaining Liu Bannong's translation activities in An Embassy to China.The main part includes three sections, respectively field and habitus of the time according to which Liu translated the book, and Liu's personal habitus reflected during translation. The first part is the characteristic of cultural field, which was influenced by the destiny of the country, such as concern on national fate, and dedication to the people's disenchantment, which were all reflected in translation of An Embassy To China. The second part is about Liu Bannong's habitus and the third part is about the function of habitus in his translation practice. Firstly, Liu Bannong's translation choice was determined by field. The time when he translated An Embassy to China was a period when the society was faced with great change, the old system was overturned, while the new one was still in a budding stage. The feature of literary field was related with the feature of the society field. Various ideologies emerged in large numbers but could not get free from traditional power, and the abolishing of old tradition lied on the enlightenment of the masses. Progressed literati were dedicated to disenchanting the masses. Content of An Embassy to China revealed social evils, hence the choice of translating this book catered to needs of the field. Secondly, translation strategy of An Embassy to China reflected strong personal trait of Liu Bannong. In analyzing his translating behaviors, Liu's habitus was well identified.