A Comparative Study Of Two English Versions Of Teahouse Based On The Rewriting Theory

Under the call of letting a hundred of flower blossom, Lao She actively takes part in the construction of new culture, like many art activists. Teahouse is born under this social background. As a realistic drama, Teahouse deeply shows a buried panorama of three acts, three generations and three times. Drama is a comprehensive stage art, which is characterized by the high concentration of the space and the time, incisive conflict and the language which can show character's features. Therefore, the translation of Teahouse should not only spotlight the theme and the character images, but also make the target readers understand. It is a great challenge for translators.Rewriting theory develops on the basis of cultural turn, which holds that translation is the process of rewriting. It is restricted by three factors: ideology, poetics and patronage. In this paper, taking the rewriting theory as the theoretical basis and two English versions of Teahouse as research objects, the author makes a comparison of two English versions of Teahouse from the three manipulations. The domestic scholars have carried out many researches on Teahouse,but a comparative study of the English versions under the rewriting theory has not been done.Through comparative analysis, this paper finds: due to the differences between political and social background, religious and cultural situation, the two translators still have different restrictions and influences on translation ideology under the manipulation of explicit ideology;Due to the differences between two translators' life experience and education background, the translators' individual ideology also plays a special role in translation under the manipulation of potential ideology. There is the interaction between the translators and individual ideology.Under the manipulation of poetics, we can draw a conclusion that the dominant poetics also plays a key role in the selection of translation texts. At the same time, the selection of translation strategies is also different in the process of translation influenced by dominant poetics. In the translation of Teahouse, Ying Ruocheng adopts the method of free translation while Howard adopts literal translation. When translating Chinese-specific expressions, the translators should comprehensively understand the role of the special context produced by Beijing dialect. They should know whether the translation version is consistent with the dominant ideology and poetics in target language and use the rewriting theory translate so as to satisfy the necessity of the target readers.This study has a certain practical significance for the exchange of Chinese and foreign literature and the spread of Chinese culture.