A Comparative Study Of Two Chinese Translations Of The Gadfly From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

From the perspective of Rewriting Theory,the thesis takes The Gadfly's two Chinese translations produced by Li Liangmin and Cai Hui as the main object of study,analyzes the different translation strategies adopted in the two translations and explores the positive effects and limitations of Rewriting Theory in English-Chinese translation.The Gadfly,as a representative work of Irish authoress Lilian Voynich,has high revolutionary spirit and distinctive literariness.The Gadfly produced by Li Liangmin embodies the political nature of Chinese literature in 1950 s.However,Cai Hui's translation reflects the poetic and marketing orientation of China's contemporary literature.Taking André Lefevere's Rewriting Theory as the guidance,the thesis makes a detailed analysis of the two translations in terms of “ideology”,“poetics” and “patronage” by adopting the methodology of descriptive approach and quantitative analysis and reveals the influences of internal and external factors on target text in different periods.It is found that Li Liangmin's translation,through proper “rewriting”,conforms to the mainstream values and political lines in his time and greatly improves The Gadfly's reputation and status in literature,and that Cai Hui's translation,however,is more concerned about the “poetics” itself,and completely represents the literary and aesthetic value of The Gadfly,breaking a new path for the readers to understand The Gadfly.Therefore,The Gadfly is endowed with a second life in contemporary literature.Based on the comparative analysis of the two translations,the author makes an objective evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of Rewriting Theory and makes some suggestions to translators with regard to the selection of translation strategies for literary works.