A Contrastive Study Of Two Chinese Versions Of Things Fall Apart From The Perspective Of Hybridity

Honored as the Father of African Literature, Chinua Achebe(1930-2013) is an influential postcolonial writer and wins his popularity in postcolonial writing. Throughout his life, he produces a great number of masterpieces written in English and related with many elements of his own nation. Things Fall Apart, published in 1959, becomes one of his most mature and popular representative works. The novel is about the miserable life of a Nigeria hero Okonkwo and his resistance to the colonists. Its two Chinese translations involve hybridity in translation. The paper aims at analyzing the two Chinese translations from the perspective of hybridity in the context of postcolonial theory and discussing hybridity phenomena in translation by contrast.This thesis is divided into 6 chapters. Chapter one is the introduction including the research background, Chinua Achebe and his Things Fall Apart, the research objectives, the research significance and the thesis structure. Chapter two is the literature review about the current studies on the Chinese versions of Things Fall Apart and the researches on hybridity both home and abroad. Chapter three is the theoretical framework of this thesis. Hybridity proposed by Homi Bhabha and its three main aspects including language, culture and literature are presented respectively. Chapter four is the research design including the research questions and methods. Research questions include: 1) How is hybridity dealt with in the two Chinese versions? 2) Which is the main factor(are the main factors) that influences(influence) the varying degrees of hybridity of in the two Chinese versions? Research methods involve the methods of qualitative and quantitative research in which description, contrast and statistical data are applied. Chapter five analyzes and discusses hybridity in translation from linguistic and cultural aspects in the two Chinese versions by contrast in terms of translation strategies, translation methods and the factors which influence hybridity in translation. In the end, functions of hybridity are discussed. Chapter six is the conclusion which summarizes the thesis and lists the major findings and limitations.Through contrast and contrastive analysis, this thesis shows that hybridity is necessary and ubiquitous in the translation of both two versions by the combination of foreignization and domestication. The degree of hybridity is affected by both the internal and external factors.