A Study Of Qiu Zhuchang's Chinese Version Of Sister Carrie From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

This article aims to study the Chinese translation of Sister Carrie from the perspective of manipulation theory,placing primary focuses on the influences of manipulation theory on choices of the source text and the translator's specific translation strategies during the translation process of Sister Carrie.Translation is a complex activity,which is not only conversion between languages,but also cultural exchanges among countries.In the 1970s,there was a cultural shift in translation studies in the West,and the focus of the study moved from internal factors in language to external factors beyond language.Lefevere introduced an important concept,pointing out that rewriting is often restricted under different historical conditions by two major factors:ideology and poetics.Ideology mainly restricts and guides the writing of translators from the aspect of political factors,social status,translator's personal political position,mainstream ideology and personal ideology.Poetics is the cultural system in which translators perform their works,which means translations are often adjusted to a certain degree to conform to the dominating or popular poetics at that specific time so that the translation can draw attention from more readers.Through using the manipulation theory as guidance,this thesis adopts descriptive and inductive methods to analyze Qiu Zhuchang's Chinese Version of Sister Carrie and the following conclusions are made:Firstly,government agencies and relevant departments vigorously promote socialism and popularize literature after the establishment of new China,therefore,works in line with the mainstream ideology with portrayal of the essence of capitalist society and plain writing style are preferred,which explains why the translator selected a work which reveals capitalism,whose theme is to expose the darkness and corruption in capitalist society.Moreover,the source text is in accordance with the needs of publishers,which can help to expand readership and maximize the economic benefits of sponsors.Secondly,from the ideological aspect,through the analysis of how the translator's translation strategies in the Chinese version of Sister Carrie are affected by mainstream and personal ideology,the following conclusions can be made:during the specific translation process,the original text is rewritten by translator through adaptation at language level and culture level to a certain degree so that the translation is more in line with the mainstream ideology of the Chinese society.The adaptation at language level can be found in words and phrases which appear in texts describing the life of capitalism and characters,while adaptations at cultural level are mainly unique things,names of characters,and geographical names in foreign culture.Thirdly,after analyzing the Chinese version of Sister Carrie from the perspective of poetics,the paper concludes as follows:the translator balances individual and external factors to adapt to the macro-environment so he chooses plain language during the specific translation process to appeal to the mainstream view of poetics.Some regional colloquial phrases and Chinese four-character idioms are used by the translator in translating,reflecting that the rewriting of texts is also subjected to the author's personal poetics.In a word,in the selection of the source text and specific translation process,the translator is influenced by the dominant and personal ideology and poetics in his time,which is manifested in the choice of the source text,translation strategies,and language style.Through a large number of examples,this paper proves that the manipulative theory can be used to analyze various translations of original texts under a specific background,moreover,it provides enlightenments for the application of manipulation theory to conducting text analysis.