Cultural Filtering In The Translation Of Xiong Di:From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

Xiong Di is one of the most representative works of Yu Hua. Brothers, its English version, has been widely acclaimed by English readers and attracted the attention from mainstream media like New York Times. The success of this novel cannot be achieved without the efforts of the translators.There are some notable differences between the original book and the English version in terms of content and style. The source text has to go through the “filters” of the target culture if it is to get established in the target literary system. Cultural filtering exists in the whole process of translation, from the selection of source texts, the choice of translation strategy, to the reception of the target text. In translation, cultural filtering is inevitable due to great disparities between two languages and cultures, and is indispensable for an effective cross-cultural communication.In 1990 s, Lefevere put forward rewriting theory, redefining translation as the rewriting of the original text under the manipulation of socio-cultural factors like ideology, poetics, and patronage. Based on Lefevere's rewriting theory, this thesis explores how cultural filtering works in translation, the underlying causes of cultural filtering, and its effects on the translated text.Two levels of cultural filtering are discussed in this study: One occurs beyond the text, concerning the selection of the source text, which is manipulated by the patronage out of economic and ideological motivations. The other is operated by the translators in the text, manifest in the filtering of poetics and universe of discourse. In terms of poetics, filtering occurs in the aspects of narration, language style and figure of speech; in terms of universe of discourse, filtering of ideology and cultural traditions are spotted. In the whole process of translation, the poetics and ideology of the target culture function as the cultural filters, governing the translation strategies and decision-making of the translators. As a result, the original text is beautified and the target text is made more acceptable and accessible to the target readers.