An Analysis Of Limitations On Gideon Toury's Translation Norms

The Picture of Dorian Gray,the only novel of Oscar Wilde who is the pioneer of Aestheticism,is always in the teeth of the storm since it was published.The number of its Chinese versions is over 10,including Rong Rude's Chinese version which was translated during the Cultural Revolution but was published after the Cultural Revolution in 1982 and has attracted few scholars' attention so far.Applying Gideon Toury's translation norms and setting Rong Rude's Chinese version into the social and historical contexts,this thesis finds that Rong Rude's Chinese version deviates from the prevailing translation norms in the Cultural Revolution from three aspects of preliminary norms,initial norms and operational norms.First,this thesis analyzes the social and historical background and the deviation of selection of the source text which includes translation purpose,translation mode,text content,sponsorship,and translation subject.Second,this thesis elaborates the deviation of initial norms,discussing that both Rong Rude's Chinese version and the foreign literature translations in the Cultural Revolution were inclined to acceptability,but both of them have a different degree of domestication.Last,this thesis explores the deviation of operational norms from micro level through case studies.The text translation form and footnotes are used for the deviation of matricial norms,whereas the words,sentences,rhetorical devices and psychological descriptions for the deviation of textual-linguistic norms in detail.In conclusion,Toury's translation norms are not adequate in explaining the specific translations in the Cultural Revolution,and it's universally applicable for Western literature instead of Chinese literature in special period of time.