Adaptation And Selection In S. I. Hsiung's Self-Translation Of The Bridge Of Heaven

The Bridge of Heaven is an English novel written by S. I. Hsiung, a well-known author born in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, during his study in the United Kingdom. It reaped huge success upon its first release in Britain and was translated into several foreign languages. The reputation of Mr. Hsiung in Britain could rival that of Lin Yutang in America. Nevertheless, due to certain reasons, the novel did not receive due attention in mainland China. Therefore, a detailed study on the creation and translation of this novel is of great significance.Eco-translatology, as an interdisciplinary study which combines translation with ecology, was firstly put forward by Professor Hu Gengshen in 2003. Professor Hu holds that general rules in natural science can be applied to translation studies. “Adaptation and selection”, as one of the core concepts of Eco-translatology, can explain most translation activities and translation process, especially those of literary translation.In light of Eco-translatology which is based on Darwin's theory of evolution, the thesis conducts an investigation into S. I. Hsiung's novel The Bridge of Heaven and its self-translation by means of theoretical analysis and case studies. Therefore, the thesis probes into the translator's adaptation to eco-environment by discussing “external needs”, “internal needs”, and “translator's competence”; it also analyzes how the translator makes adaptive selections from the perspective of “linguistic dimension”, “cultural dimension” by investigating the transformation of language style, form, figure of speech, and cultural loaded words. The thesis proves that S. I. Hsiung actively adapts and selects in the course of self-translating The Bridge of Heaven by adopting distinctive translation strategies, which is worth investigating into and studying by translators; besides, it verifies the guiding significance and practicability of Eco-translatology: it has strong feasibility and explanatory power to translation practice, especially literary translation.